NY Daily News – July 07, 2016
by Jennifer Fermino
Help, it’s an emergency — a system that allows New Yorkers to text 911 for help is likely years away for becoming a reality.
Gov. Cuomo on Tuesday became the latest New York official to support a 21st century upgrade to the city’s aging 911 system, saying it should have been done already.
“I think it should be done in New York City. I think it should have been done sooner,” Cuomo told reporters.
The push for texting 911 has gained steam after the spate of mass shootings like the one at the Orlando night club Pulse in June.
Last week, Mayor de Blasio signed a law that requires his administration to give the City Council a report on what is being done to make an expanded 911 system a reality.
That system, known as Next Generation 911, also includes the ability to send crime scene videos and photos to dispatchers.
But the 911 upgrade requires major infrastructure work, including swapping the current copper wire system that calls are routed through to a digital one.
City Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo (D-Brooklyn) — who sponsored the law — said she estimates that New Yorkers won’t be texting emergencies for at least another two years. “It takes time, but we’re moving in that direction,” she said. The city has not even begun soliciting bids for the new system, and likely won’t until at least early 2017, according to the Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications.
Cumbo said that she wrote the bill after getting a lot of calls from constituents requesting the service.
In addition to helping people in an emergency who are afraid to speak — including in hostage and domestic violence crises — she said it could also help the deaf.
“We are fully committed to building and maintaining state-of-the-art 911 systems, including delivering text-to-911,” said department spokeswoman Maya Worman.
She said the city couldn’t give a cost estimate because it hadn’t received any bids on the project.
Cuomo agreed that the implementation may be hampered by a lack of funds and suggested the city look at the feds for help not the state because “it is basically a locally driven system.”
“I know Sen. (Chuck) Schumer supports it. If there was any federal funding to help that would be very appropriate in this circumstance,” he said.
Other municipalities — including 20 upstate New York counties — allow people to text 911 for help, but those are all much smaller than the city’s system.
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