The Brazos County 9-1-1 District is among agencies statewide that are discouraging the downloading and use of new smartphone apps to make emergency calls.
The district’s executive director, Patrick Corley, says some of the applications make some big promises that are misleading to the public.
Corley says the fastest way to contact 9-1-1 is to call 9-1-1 directly; instead of taking the time to find the app and go through the steps to use either a free or paid service.
With a smartphone app, Corley says that “introduces a point of failure into the process and unduly complicates and delays what is designed to be a very simple act of dialing 9-1-1.”
He also says most callers tell dispatchers their locations. When a caller is not able to give a location, Corley says the dispatcher has that information within seconds.
Last year, Brazos County dispatchers handled more than 111,000 9-1-1 calls. 87 percent of the calls originated from a wireless device. Less than eight percent were made from landlines.
Click below for comments from Patrick Corley, visiting with WTAW’s Bill Oliver.