COVINGTON, Ga. — Covington-Newton County 911 unveiled a text option Monday night as a new way to seek aid in local emergency situations.

During the Covington City Council's July 19 meeting, Covington-Newton 9-1-1 Director Trudy Henry said the public safety service has recently started receiving texts to 911. She said wireless customers could now send a text up to 140 characters to 911 in the event of an emergency. 

Texts to 911 should only be used in emergency situations, Henry said, when placing a call is not an option.

"For instance," a news release stated. "If the caller is deaf, hard-of-hearing, speech impaired, or when speaking out loud would put the caller in danger."

 If there is an emergency and residents are unable to make a call, Henry said the 911 Center recommends the following:  

• Don’t text and drive  

• In the first text message send the location and type of emergency.  

• Text in simple words — send a short text message in English without abbreviations or slang.  

• Be prepared to answer questions and follow instructions from the 911 call taker. 

“This feature is a wonderful tool for our residents, should they ever find themselves in a situation where calling isn’t practical," Henry said. “We clearly prefer voice calls because we can assist the caller quicker, but there are instances where the text method will prove to be very beneficial.”

Henry encouraged users to not "abuse" the 911 text option.

Things to consider about the new service, Henry said, include:

• It is a crime to text or call 911 with a false report.

• A text or data plan is required to place a text to 911  

• As with all text messages, messages to 911 may take longer to receive, may get out of order, or may not be received at all.  

• If you do not receive a text response from 911, try to contact 911 another way.  

• Photos and videos cannot be sent to 911 at this time.  

• Text to 911 cannot include more than one person. Do not send your emergency text to anyone other than 911.