Last week, two teens covertly texted their grandfather for help during a home invasion robbery near Immokalee, Fla. With new technology, Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk says some victims in similar predicaments can now send a text message directly to 9-1-1 operators.

Rambosk announced that Verizon customers can now send a text message to 9-1-1 for help, making Collier the first county in Florida with that capability. He expects the service to be available on most cellphone carriers by the end of the year.

“I think we need to stay not only up with technology, but ahead of technology, as long as we’re doing in a cost-effective manner,” Rambosk said.

While calling 9-1-1 is still preferred, Rambosk anticipates the texting service will be especially useful for people who are hearing-impaired, having a medical emergency that renders them voiceless or anyone who does not want to alert a criminal to their cry for help. In the future, the Sheriff’s office expects to have the capability to allow a person to text photos or videos to dispatchers that can then be forwarded to the responding deputies.

Sheriff’s office officials said there’s no real cost associated with the new program since dispatchers are able to use their existing equipment and the service is provided by cellphone carriers who have entered an agreement with the Federal Communications Commission.

“I think we have been on the leading edge of technology for some time,” Rambosk said. “We’re just going to continue to move forward because in another five years, things will change from here.”

The sheriff also announced a new partnership between his agency and community members to create a database of privately operated surveillance systems. Rambosk said willing residents or business owners can now contact the Sheriff’s office to let detectives know if they have cameras. Then when a crime occurs, detectives would be able to quickly find those people and ask for permission to search their footage.

“As these occurrences unfold, particularly when there is some time sensitivity, if we know where to go directly, it will save detectives significant amounts of time to try and gather information,” Rambosk said.

The program is “completely voluntary,” Rambosk said, and solely for the purposes of knowing the locations of cameras. The sheriff said detectives wouldn’t have ongoing access to the surveillance cameras and would still have to ask the camera’s owner for permission to view footage if a crime was committed nearby.

“We see this as a very organized and efficient way to know who might have potential information and evidence and who would volunteer that information, which would enable us to follow up more quickly and potentially have a much quicker outcome,” he said.

Greg Pick, the general manager of the community association at the Mediterra community in North Naples, said he was happy to be the first volunteer for the new initiative.

“We at Mediterra believe that there is no stronger association we can have than with the local Sheriff’s office,” he said. “The stronger that relationship is, the safer we feel. We want to be able to deter crime in the Mediterra community, and that’s our primary goal.”