'World first' for deaf 111 text calls

Deaf people will be able to text 111 in an emergency from August in a "world first".

The text service will be tested and extended to the hearing impaired, and could eventually be available to everyone.

The system could also be used to track people's phones and send out mass "alert" texts to the public in an emergency.

Deaf Aotearoa New Zealand chief executive Rachel Noble says New Zealand's 79,000 deaf people could send a fax in an emergency but often relied on finding a neighbour or someone to call 111.

"That's a big delay. We've been demanding this for a long time." Deaf people will be able to register for the service by the middle of the year through Deaf Aotearoa.

Most of the deaf community have mobile phones, she says.

"As with the hearing community there are pockets of people who don't use them, like older people. But the mobile phone is the one piece of equipment that's advanced a deaf person's ability to communicate with either other deaf or hearing people, through text.

"This is going to put deaf people on a par with their peers."

National communications centre manager Andy McGregor says people will not need special phones to use the service. Police decided not to extend the service to the general public because in most cases it is more efficient to report emergencies through a voice call, but it could be useful in situations where people are unable to talk.

"That's something we will explore. I can't say that we will do it."

Australian firm Whispir will supply the software, which will be installed by IBM. Service users will be prompted to enter their location and details of the incident and their personal details will be automatically entered into the text.

"From that initial text we'll be able to get sufficient information to dispatch a car if required and if we need further information we can text them back."

The texts will be read and answered on computers by call centre staff - who are better suited to deciphering text speak than software, he says.

Whispir is in talks with Telecom, Vodafone and 2degrees to ensure they prioritise their 111 texts - as they do with 111 calls from mobiles.

The system could be used to track GPS phones to determine the location of people and to send out texts to people in an area, but the police's priority is to improve access to emergency services for the deaf community, Mr McGregor says.

"We want to make it easier for the public to access our services . . . if we do that we improve the public's trust and confidence in the police."

The fire and ambulance services will not be able to receive emergency texts, but police can relay information to their systems, he says.

British authorities are testing similar software and Canadian authorities are interested in emergency texts, but New Zealand will be the first country in the world to roll out such a system.

The Whispir software will also be used to send group texts to police, for example, in busy times when extra staff are needed.

The regular 111 phone system in Auckland suffered an outage on Friday morning, when a third of emergency calls failed to get through.

- © Fairfax NZ News