The Montgomery County (Ala.) Regional Dispatch Center is spending more than $1 million for a new 9-1-1 communications system that accepts text messages and could one day provide more accurate and reliable location data about callers on mobile phones.

Cellphone owners in some local cities and townships soon will be able to seek emergency aid via text message, potentially helping people who are hearing- or speech-impaired, young and tech-savvy or caught in situations in which phoning 9-1-1 is difficult or dangerous.

Calling 9-1-1 is the best way to seek help during an emergency. But some people are unable to easily or safely communicate their need for help to dispatchers verbally, while certain members of the population may feel more comfortable communicating via electronic messages.

“Primarily the hearing-and the speech-impaired, it will benefit them,” said Ron Bien, 9-1-1 coordinator for Hamilton County, which now accepts 9-1-1 text messages from a couple of wireless companies. “But in our experience, young kids are using it more.”

The nation’s current 9-1-1 system is designed around telephone technology and cannot handle the text, data, images and video that are increasingly common in personal communications, according to the Research and Innovative Technology Administration at the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Those who send 9-1-1 a text message typically receive a message back from their cellular providers saying, “Public safety in this area does not support text service at this time.”

But Montgomery residents by late summer or early fall should be able to communicate via text with 9-1-1 operators at the county’s regional dispatch center. The dispatch center handles emergency calls for about 16 local cities and townships, including Dayton, Harrison Twp., Miamisburg and Trotwood.

The county is purchasing a primary E-9-1-1 phone system and a backup in case of evacuations and other emergencies from Intrado, a Colorado-based company that in 2009 helped establish the nation’s first text-to-9-1-1 service in Black Hawk County, Iowa.

The new system eventually should be able to quickly and accurately identify the location of callers on mobile phones once the state’s 9-1-1 infrastructure is upgraded to digital, said Capt. Matt Haines with the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.

About three-fourths of 9-1-1 calls to the regional dispatch center are made on cellphones, but dispatchers get a reliable location only about 60 percent of time, Haines said.

The nation’s largest wireless providers, including Sprint, Verizon Wireless, AT&T and T-Mobile, have started offering text-to-9-1-1 service. The Federal Communications Commission is requiring all providers to offer the service by the end of the year.

“… I think it might be an easier way for victims to get a hold of law enforcement since it is not so obvious they are dialing a phone,” said Jane Keiffer, director of clinical programs with the Artemis Center, a resource for victims of domestic violence in Dayton. “But they have to have access to a phone, because a lot of times batterers break phones, take phones or monitor the phones.”

Texting 9-1-1 may appeal to young people, who tend to live on their cellphones and prefer to communicate electronically. People between the ages of 12 and 19 are the most frequent victims of all major types of crimes, according to the National Crime Prevention Council.

Hamilton County dispatchers have received about half a dozen text messages in recent months since enabling digital communications; a few were from young people who did not want their family members to know they were contacting emergency responders, Bien said.

One teenager was contemplating hurting herself and did not want her parents to know she was emotionally distraught and seeking help, Bien said.

The county dispatch center currently can receive text messages via the Verizon and Sprint wireless networks, and soon more carriers will offer the service.

Still, Bien said, calling 9-1-1 is expected to remain the primary way people seek emergency assistance, though texting will be useful in certain situations.

“We are not getting that many (texts) and they are easy to handle, so even if we did get more, it wouldn’t be a big deal,” Bien said.

Hamilton County has provided advice to the public about proper and effective ways to request help via text. Some groups say the public and dispatchers may need similar lessons.

Many deaf people text differently from residents with hearing because their primary language is American Sign Language, said Verne Taylor, president of the Ohio Association for the Deaf.

Police may need to be taught how to properly interpret and respond to texts from members of the deaf community.

“We may need to teach (the) community how to use 9-1-1 texting,” Taylor said.