Shanghai set to get SMS police hot line

Shanghai police are currently working with telecom companies to provide an SMS hot line that'll let locals use text messaging to contact the city's 110 police headquarters in an emergency (110 is the Shanghai equivalent of 911).
Officials are touting the service as a way for people who are mute or who don't speak Mandarin to more easily report an emergency or a crime (most people will probably still want to call up rather than tap out a message explaining their emergency).  The system should be up and running sometime this year.

[Via textually.org]