The Lubbock Police Department implemented emergency 911 texting in April 2015. Since then, dispatchers said they have seen no increase in the number of texts they receive.
Melissa Orosco, Communication Coordinator at LPD, said they receive about 10 texts per month.
“They could be in a situation where they don’t want to be talking, so I think it’s a piece of technology that we need,” Orosco said. “But it also scares me being a dispatcher because we can’t get as much information from them over text as we can from a phone call.”
Orosco added it also takes 1 to 3 minutes longer for officials to arrive when sending a text via 911.
“Once we are done typing on the texting story, we then have to transfer all that to a call sheet to send out officers on it so it takes some time,” Orosco said.
911 texting is only mandated in certain parts on the South Plains including: Slaton, Plainview, and through LPD and the Lubbock County Sheriff’s Office.
