There’s a new way to get help in Palm Springs

There’s a new way to let police know you’re in trouble in Palm Springs.

You can now text 911 if you’re in a situation where it’s too dangerous to call.

The new technology is primarily for the hearing or speech impaired but works in other situations, too.

“This could be used in a scenario where someone was being held captive, could be a domestic violence scenario, could be an active shooter scenario where someone doesn’t want to give up their location,” said Mike Kovaleff with Palm Springs Police Department.

The process is very easy. Just enter 911 in the “to” field on your phone. Write a brief message about the type of emergency and where you’re at and hit send.

Be prepared to answer any questions the dispatcher may have and follow any instructions provided.

“You need to send your location and any information going along with the emergency situation. It’s important to remember to call if you can, text if you can’t,” Kovaleff said.

But you can’t send pictures or videos.

Don’t use abbreviations or emojis because they won’t be recognized.

There’s a catch, you need to be in the city where the texting program exists.

“San Bernardino County is the only county that has it and we’re the only five agencies in Riverside County that have it,” Kovaleff said.

Those other four cities are Banning, Beaumont, Cathedral City and eventually Indio.

Some people we talked with like it.

“It’s going to create the best situation for people in trouble and get people to respond the quickest,” said Mary Claeys from Palm Springs.

But in order for the program to truly be effective police said all cities need to be on board.