The Sacramento Police Department has increased the speed in which the deaf and hard of hearing can relay information to 9-1-1 dispatchers.

In 2003, paging technology allowed the deaf and hard of hearing to contact 9-1-1 dispatchers using keypad pagers.  Callers could type the necessary information via pager and send it directly to our Communications Center.  From there, the dispatcher would transfer that information into computers to dispatch an officer.  Unfortunately, that form of technology had a delay up to 30 seconds between each transmission.

The Sacramento Police Department has upgraded the old two-way paging system into a web- based system, allowing any person who is deaf or hard of hearing to contact 9-1-1 via the web.  Dispatchers can now communicate using the web based 9-1-1 system via a smartphone.  The amount of time between communications has been reduced to only a few seconds.

The new web-based address is 9162062713@vzw.blackberry.net and can be used by any device that has the ability to send email.  Both the old two-way pager and the new web system will run concurrently until the new address can stand alone.