Way to Go, Gabriel!
“If someone broke into your house . . . calling the police would just let the robber know where you are,” said 11 year-old Gabriel Kaplan, who wrote to the Star Tribune recently asking why it’s not possible to text for help. Kaplan said he couldn’t sleep one night because he thought someone had broken into his house. Although it turned out to be a false alarm, it left him wishing he could have called for help without having to speak.
–Matt McKinney, “State 911 Service Only Months Away From Offering Text-to-911“; Star Tribune (7/19/2014).
The 11 year-old Gabriel Kaplan with the bright idea happens to be . . . my son.
Unbeknownst to him, the state’s deaf community has been lobbying for just such a 911 option.
According to the Metropolitan Emergency Services Board, “the change will come statewide rather than city by city, and is expected in months, not years.”
Kudos to the Minnesota Association of Deaf Citizens; the Metropolitan Emergency Services Board; and the Minneapolis police.
And also thanks to Star Tribune reporter Matt McKinney, for shining a spotlight on the issue — and graciously sharing credit for the idea.
P.S.: When Gabriel was 8, and he asked me how much a Redbox was, I told him a $1.
That wasn’t what he wanted to know. Rather, he wanted to know how much retails stores paid to lease a Redbox.
See, “Daddy, How Much is a Redbox?”
