Some North Texas counties have 911 via text

Hunt and Parker are among the counties that have the ability for people to text 911, but not all counties have the capability yet.

A mother who was shot and kidnapped with her two children sent a text to Hunt County 911 pleading for help.

"She may not have been able to make a voice call so law enforcement would never be made aware of the situation her and her family was in and be able to respond to it," said Capt. Mark Arnett, Parker County Sheriff's Department.

Without the text to the Hunt County Sheriff's Office, police might never have noticed there was a problem on the RV. Police think this was clearly a case where a phone call to 911 might have led to more violence for the victims.

"She texted us letting us know her location, what had happened, what she needed, able to text her back cause there were moving down the interstate and got different locations on where they were,” said Wayne Gilmore, Hunt County Sheriff's Department.

Parker is among a growing number of Texas counties where you can text 911 for help.

"Say they're hiding in the closet, there's an intruder or for some reason they don't want to make that phone call, they don't want to be noticed maybe a bank robbery or something like that,” said Capt. Mark Arnett, Parker County Sheriff's Department.

Not every Texas county has texting 911 and not every carrier is part of the system yet. Dallas and Tarrant counties do not have it, but Collin and Denton do.

In this case it very likely saved the lives of a mother and her two young children.