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2 rural northwestern Indiana counties accepting text-to-911

Posted June 14, 2016 7:00 am

The Associated Press

RENSSELAER, Ind. (AP) - Two rural northwestern Indiana counties now are accepting text-to-911 messages.

WLFI-TV reports (http://bit.ly/1VY5WaU ) Jasper County launched its services at the beginning of June and Newton County was set to begin accepting text messages Wednesday. Both counties say they'll accept messages from Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile cellphones.

Officials stress the text-to-911 service should only be used when phone calls are not an option, such as when the caller is deaf or having a medical emergency or speaking would be unsafe. Sometimes, text messages are delayed.

Newton County Sheriff Tom VanVleet says it's imperative that those sending the text messages provide the location and the nature of emergency.

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Information from: WLFI-TV, http://www.wlfi.com/

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