Residents of Albemarle County and Charlottesville can now reach out for help from police, EMTs and firefighters by text.
The Text-to-911 service is now available through the Emergency Communications Center.
This service is meant to be used in situations when a person cannot call for help, but officials say you should not send photos, emojis or videos to 911, and text-to-911 services can only include one recipient, so you cannot copy other people on the message.