Public safety officials in Gratiot County announced recently that Smart911 is now available to all individuals. 

Smart911 is a free service that allows individuals and families to sign up online to provide key information to 9-1-1 call takers during an emergency.

“Smart911saves critical time in an emergency and has proven to save lives nationwide,” said Richard Ramereiz – Chief of Police of the St. Louis Police Department “The additional information provided in a Smart911 Safety Profile enables us to know exactly where we are going and who we are looking for in a house fire or at the scene of a vehicle accident, those details can help us respond faster and more efficiently.”

Smart911 allows citizens to create a Safety Profile at www.smart911.com for their household that includes any information they want 9-1-1 and response teams to have in the event of an emergency. When a citizen makes an emergency call, their Safety Profile is automatically displayed to the 9-1-1 call taker, allowing them to send the right response teams to the right location with the right information.

“Citizens that create a Safety Profile will be better prepared in all towns and counties across the country that support Smart911,” said Dan Morden – Interim Director of Gratiot County Central Dispatch, “The Safety Profile travels with you and the additional information provided allows us to send the right response teams faster.”

With Smart911, citizens can link both home and work addresses to mobile phones, which can be passed on to responders in the field for more a detailed, rapid response.  Additional information including pets in the home, vehicle details in the event of an accident, and even emergency contacts can all be included in a Safety Profile.  All information is optional and the citizen has the ability to choose what details they would like to include. 

“The benefits of this information on a 9-1-1 call from a cell phone are immeasurable”, said Dan Morden – Interim Director of Gratiot County Central Dispatch, “Mobile phones do not provide an address to the 9-1-1 call taker. These emergency situations are often the worse of a person’s life and the Safety Profile can speak for you when you might be unable.”

Smart911 is currently available in 40 states and more than 1,500 municipalities across the country, and has been credited with positively impacting emergency outcomes including a missing child in which the girl’s photo and physical description were immediately available to 9-1-1 and responders, as well as a heart attack victim where an address and medical notes allowed responders to be dispatched to his location quickly. 

Citizens are encouraged to create their Safety Profile with Smart911 today to have their information immediately available to 9-1-1 and to receive emergency notifications. Smart911 is private and secure, is only used for emergency responses, and only made available to the 9-1-1 system in the event of an emergency call.