Kari’s Law represents a culmination of efforts in the
aftermath of the tragic murder of Kari Hunt. For those who do not know the
story, Kari Hunt met her estranged husband in a motel room in Marshall, Texas
with their kids. During the meeting, Kari’s husband attacked her in the
bathroom and ultimately killed her. Kari’s 9-year-old daughter attempted to
dial 9-1-1 several times and she was unable to get through because the hotel phone
required you to dial a 9 first to get to an outside line. By the time help was
able to arrive, it was too late.
Since Kari’s death, her father Hank Hunt has made it his
mission to educate the public as well as elected officials across the U.S.
about the important need to change all MLTS phones to provide direct access to
9-1-1. That means any phone that you would usually have to dial a number to get
an outside line first (i.e. hotels, schools, large businesses, and hospitals)
should now be able to dial 9-1-1 and get connected to 9-1-1 immediately.
It is important that businesses comply with this law. If for
some reason the existing MLTS cannot be re-programmed or replaced, then a
one-year waiver will be granted upon timely submission of an affidavit. The
waiver as well as more information on this law and how it works is located at www.texas911.org.
CSEC created a PSA
to bring awareness to the law (it is also available in Spanish). They then created a toolkit to assist 9-1-1
educators and coordinators with their efforts in educating businesses and the
public. The toolkit includes a media release template (English and Spanish), a brochure (English and Spanish), a list of
business outreach opportunities and a letter template to send out to business
service users (BSUs) who have MLTS phones. You can find the toolkit here.
Let’s make sure all businesses with MLTS phones provide direct access to 9-1-1
because it could and will ultimately help save lives.
