State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

NYC Looks to Make Its 911 System Fully Digital

Government Technology: New York City is working to make its 911 system fully digital, which in practical terms means that residents will be able to interact with emergency responders through text messages, photos, videos, social media and other state-of-the-art methods of communication.

The city’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications has released a nearly 300-page RFP looking for vendors to help build the underlying infrastructure necessary for the coming upgrades — specifically the IP-based 911 system. The upgrade effort has been dubbed Next Generation 911, and while it is being developed and implemented, the city will also launch an interim system called Text-to-911 in early 2018. This system is exactly what it sounds like — a way to use text messages to contact 911 the way one would with a traditional phone call.

Read article