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In Atlanta, a kidnap victim in 2007 quietly managed to sneak a text message to his brother. The police were contacted, and the abductee was rescued.
And in Kershaw County, N.C., a 14-year-old girl held captive in a bunker in 2006 sent a text to her mother from her captor's phone. She also was rescued.
The technology to send text messages has long been available. But the money to upgrade 911 call centers to receive them has not.
"I see this as a terrific problem," said Monica Gavio, Southern New Jersey vice president of the National Emergency Number Association (NENA) and 911 coordinator for the Burlington County Department of Public Safety in Westampton.
"More and more people rely on text messaging. The younger generation is using texting more than voice," Gavio said.
Several states, including New Jersey, have used millions of dollars that had been dedicated to "enhanced 911 services" to plug state budget gaps or to pay for other public safety initiatives.
The lack of funds has prevented call centers in New Jersey and Pennsylvania from obtaining upgraded computer systems and communication lines and to train 911 staffs to receive text messages.
The only center in the country with capability to directly receive text messages began service this month in Black Hawk County, Iowa.
Upgrading the nation's 911 operations to Internet protocol-based broadband systems could cost tens of millions of dollars and take three years once the funds are available, said the association, which has chapters across the country.
Modernizing 911 systems to accept text messages is important, Gavio said, because "there are times when someone can't speak. There could be a home intrusion or an abduction. Texting also is important to the hearing- and speech-impaired because they can't use voice."
Those clients now use tele-typewriters (TTYs) and telecommunications devices for the deaf (TDDs) to communicate with 911 centers.
"I believe [texting] will be a necessity at some point in time and may eventually replace" the devices, said Tim Baldwin, a spokesman for Lancaster County's 911 Center and first vice president of the Pennsylvania NENA chapter. "We're going to have to accept [text] messages in the future."
Text and video messages from phones and other handheld devices could give the dispatch center and first-responders more information to deal with emergencies.
"If you had [details about] an overturned tanker on the New Jersey Turnpike, the people at the call center would be able to pull information on tanker records," said Chris Nussman, education program manager at NENA's national headquarters in Arlington, Va.
"You know what you're dealing with. You can have hazardous-material information." The 911 enhancement "has a huge capacity for information gathering and sharing," he said.
Funding has been a problem because many states, hurt by the recession, have diverted money they collect via mobile phone fees to pay for other needs, from police uniforms to state-police operations.
New Jersey, Delaware, New York, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Hawaii, Arizona, and Oregon are among the states to dip into funds that were intended for 911 enhancement.
Mobile phone subscribers in almost every state find a fee of 20 cents to $1.50 on their monthly bill designated for "E911" or enhanced 911 services.
More than $200 million collected nationally for 911 upgrades over the last two years has been used for other purposes, according to the Associated Press.
An upgraded system would allow 911 operators to receive photos, videos and text messages, and to share the information with first responders.
"We've issued a policy statement strongly opposing the raiding" of 911 funding, Nussman said.
"Unfortunately, some state and local governments have seen 911 revenues - funds raised through fees assessed on telecommunications bills specifically for 911 - as a revenue source available to be diverted . . . for use in other programs, to balance budgets, and/or to provide budget flexibility to fund other non-911 budget priorities," NENA said in a statement this summer.
The association has recommended that state and local governments be held to the same "truth-in-billing" standards as commercial telecommunications companies when disclosing the purposes of fees.
In January, Gov. Corzine suspended a local grant program for 911 call centers to help balance the budget.
That cut affects the budgets of many police 911 dispatch operations, such as Cherry Hill's, which uses the funds for advanced digital technology and maintenance, said Dan Keashen, a township spokesman.
"Broadband is one of those technologies that enable more efficient communications between institutions and consumers," said Shelley Bates, a spokeswoman for New Jersey's Office of Information Technology. "But we don't have the funds to go broadband yet."
Contact staff writer Edward Colimore at 856-779-3833 or ecolimore@phillynews.com.