You can now ask for help without saying a word.

The Baldwin County 9-1-1 system can now receive both calls and texts from residents who need assistance.

Over the last several years the Alabama Next Generation Project (ANGEN) established an internet protocol network that allows emergency texts to be properly delivered to the correct 9-1-1 call center. Those emergency calls are transmitted using Texty, a platform that helps deliver those texts.

All that technical jargon means you can text for help rather than call. Officials say texting may aid victims who otherwise would be left with no options.

“There may be a lot of situations people find themselves in, most notably in domestic violence situations when you fear for your life or fear a person near you. You can reach out for help and send us your address without them knowing,” said Dan Wright, deputy director, Baldwin County 9-1-1.

The text technology also allows 9-1-1 operators to pinpoint victims in a way never previously available. The 9-1-1- text utilizes an additional layer of technology called RapidSOS, an emergency technology company that partners with Google and Apple to send first responders data about the caller’s location.

The 9-1-1 call center receives GPS data with each call. Previously first responders had to use triangulation of the caller’s device to guestimate where they were located. Now, they can pinpoint them in seconds.

Recently the Baldwin County 9-1-1 center used this technology to locate a boater stranded on a river.

“With RapidSOS we knew exactly where he was and was able to watch him float down the river. We could continually update our team and find him instead of starting our search at his last known location and hope to find him,” Wright said. “We knew where he was the whole time.

“As long as we can maintain the connection, the system is continually updating their location,” Wright said. “It’s good stuff.”

The 9-1-1 texts will make it easier for the hearing impaired to contact emergency services as well and will provide more opportunities for callers to reach a dispatcher during a county-wide emergency, such as Hurricane Sally when 9-1-1 lines were flooded. Staff members have been training with and testing the technology in Baldwin County for about eight months.

Much of the testing has been used to call back accidental 9-1-1 calls. Wright said Baldwin County 9-1-1 receives about 127,000 calls a year, and roughly 30 percent of those are accidental calls or hang ups. Dispatchers are tasked with reaching every one of those callers to make sure they are safe.

“Unfortunately, with all the spam calls we all receive now very few people answer when we call them back,” Wright said. He said tourists in particular, who accidentally call 9-1-1, will not answer the call back from the dispatchers.

“We’re spending 30 percent of our resources and time making multiple calls back to phone numbers trying to make contact,” he said.

When dispatchers switched to texting those numbers most people respond allowing the call center to close those cases.

Wright said dispatchers and callers still prefer calls to texts, but the new system is another way to reach everyone. The new text to 9-1-1 motto is, “Call when you can, text when you can’t.”

“We prefer to still call 911 but this is just another tool and another way we can provide help to everyone that needs it,” Wright said.