Terms of Use

1. Acceptance, changes, and eligibility

By accessing or using the Site—including viewing information, using a telephone or SMS link, generating or downloading a file, submitting a form, requesting posters or documents, or starting a donation—you agree to these Terms and acknowledge the Privacy Policy. If you do not agree, do not use the Site.

If you use the Site for an agency, school, company, nonprofit, or other organization, you represent that you are authorized to act for that organization and bind it to these Terms with respect to that use.

You must be legally capable of agreeing to these Terms. Users under the age of majority may use the Site only with a parent’s or legal guardian’s permission and supervision. Children under 13 may view general educational content but must not submit a form, request materials, submit a county correction, or donate.

We may revise these Terms by posting an updated version and changing the effective date. Changes apply prospectively when posted, except when additional notice or consent is required by law. Your continued use after a revision means that you accept the revised Terms.

2. Public-safety and professional-service limitations

2.1 General education only

The Site provides general public-safety education, emergency-number routing information, technology concepts, policy proposals, directory information, demonstrations, and awareness materials. It is not a government service, emergency communications center, dispatch system, carrier, medical or mental-health provider, legal adviser, or substitute for instructions from qualified professionals or local authorities.

Public Emergency Codes is an independent charitable initiative. Unless a page expressly says otherwise, the Site is not affiliated with, authorized by, or endorsed by any government agency, 911 center, law-enforcement agency, fire department, emergency medical provider, crisis line, carrier, device maker, application marketplace, GitHub, GitLab, F-Droid, Cloudflare, DuckDuckGo, Google, Hostinger, or PayPal.

2.2 Do not use the Site to request help

Website forms, feature suggestions, county corrections, poster requests, donation messages, and document requests are not continuously monitored and must never be used to report an emergency, request a welfare check, communicate suicidal intent, provide live incident updates, or seek time-sensitive assistance. A successful form confirmation only means that the website accepted the submission for ordinary processing; it does not mean anyone has read it or taken action.

2.3 Numbers and service availability vary

911, 988, 311, 211, Text-to-911, and county non-emergency services differ by country, state, county, municipality, carrier, device, language, and local infrastructure. Some services may be unavailable, may not accept texts, may route differently near jurisdictional borders, or may change their numbers or hours. 311 in particular is not a universal county number. Verify non-emergency and local-service information through the responsible agency before relying on it.

Text-to-911 is not available in every location. If you attempt an emergency text and receive a bounce-back or no confirmation, use a voice call if it is safe and possible, or follow the instructions provided by local authorities. Do not test emergency numbers or place false, unnecessary, or prank calls or texts.

2.4 Location and medical demonstrations are not live emergency features

The Site’s map uses an IP-based city and state estimate only to open a likely area of the directory. It does not use precise device GPS, does not determine your emergency location, does not show what a dispatcher actually sees, and does not transmit your location to 911. Visual examples involving silent messaging, medical profiles, automated contact alerts, dispatcher screens, video, mapping, or data transmission illustrate proposals and desired technology standards; the website itself does not provide those emergency capabilities.

2.5 Use your judgment

Safety tips cannot address every circumstance. Conditions can change quickly, and local dispatcher instructions or professional advice should take priority. You are responsible for deciding whether an issue presents immediate danger and for contacting the appropriate service. Never delay an emergency call while using the Site or trying to verify Site content.

3. County directory, phone links, QR codes, and downloads

3.1 Directory information

We work to maintain useful county non-emergency listings, but numbers and jurisdictional responsibilities change. Directory entries are provided without a guarantee of accuracy, completeness, official status, or current availability. The Site’s county match following IP-based location detection is approximate and can be wrong. Always review the selected state and county and verify a non-emergency number directly with the relevant county, sheriff, police, or public-safety agency.

3.2 Submitted corrections

You may submit a proposed 10-digit U.S. county non-emergency number. You represent that the submission is made in good faith, relates to the selected public agency, and is not a private, personal, premium-rate, fraudulent, or misleading number. We may compare the number with public search results, publish it automatically when the system finds a sufficiently strong official association, display it only in your browser while review is pending, queue it for manual review, reject it, replace it, or remove it at any time.

By submitting a correction, you grant AID a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, royalty-free, sublicensable right to verify, reproduce, format, publish, distribute, update, and use the submitted public agency information and associated public source information for the directory and charitable mission. You receive no ownership interest or compensation from a directory update.

3.3 Telephone and messaging links

A tel: or sms: link merely asks compatible software on your device to prepare a call or message. Public Emergency Codes does not place the call, send the text, confirm that the number supports texting, or control your carrier, device, charges, routing, or recipient. Review the number before initiating communication.

3.4 QR codes, vCards, and poster files

QR codes, contact files, customized posters, and PDF or PNG downloads are generated in your browser from the selected or typed number. You are responsible for verifying all labels, phone numbers, dimensions, print quality, QR scans, and intended use before saving, sharing, displaying, or printing a file. A generated QR code or vCard is a convenience and is not an official certification of the number.

Do not alter or distribute a poster in a way that is deceptive, unsafe, unlawful, defamatory, or likely to suggest government approval, official emergency-service status, or endorsement that does not exist.

4. Contact forms, document requests, and suggestions

4.1 Ordinary communications

Contact and supporting-document forms create emails for manual review. We do not guarantee a response, response time, availability of any requested document, or that a request will be granted. Do not send confidential, privileged, classified, regulated, proprietary, or sensitive personal information through a form. Sending a message does not create a professional, fiduciary, advisory, partnership, employment, or agency relationship.

4.2 Feature suggestions and feedback

Suggestions must be lawful and must not contain another person’s confidential information, trade secret, patented material you do not have the right to disclose, malicious code, or content that infringes third-party rights. Suggestions are not confidential.

By submitting a feature idea, title, description, correction, comment, or other feedback (“Feedback”), you grant AID and Public Emergency Codes a worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable, nonexclusive, transferable, sublicensable, royalty-free license to use, copy, modify, translate, combine, publish, distribute, display, perform, develop, commercialize, and otherwise exploit that Feedback for any lawful charitable or operational purpose, without notice, attribution, approval, or compensation. You retain ownership of rights you already have in your original Feedback. This license does not give us ownership of personal information, which remains governed by the Privacy Policy.

We may already be considering or developing ideas similar to your Feedback. Submission does not create an obligation to review, adopt, develop, keep confidential, credit, or compensate you.

5. Poster downloads and physical poster waitlist

Digital poster downloads are provided for local printing. Physical poster requests are placed on a manually reviewed waitlist because funding and inventory are limited. “Place Order” submits a free request; it is not a purchase, accepted order, shipping contract, or promise that posters will be produced or delivered.

We may approve, deny, limit, prioritize, combine, contact you about, or cancel a request based on available funding, inventory, mission fit, geography, organizational eligibility, suspected abuse, or other operational considerations. Quantities, materials, sizes, design, production method, and delivery timing may change. Unless we expressly agree otherwise in writing, you receive no right to reimbursement, substitute materials, damages, or specific performance if a request is not fulfilled.

Physical requests require a bona fide organization, company, school, agency, or other commercial address. Do not submit a residential address. You represent that the contact and commercial shipping information is accurate and that you are authorized to request and receive materials for the named organization. If accepted, we may share the information with a printer, fulfillment vendor, or carrier.

For a customized non-emergency poster, you are responsible for supplying and verifying the official county office number. The browser-generated PNG attached to the request may reproduce that number exactly as entered. Approval of a physical request is not a certification that the number is correct.

6. Donations, charitable status, and projections

6.1 PayPal checkout

Selecting Donate first opens an on-site disclosure identifying AID and explaining the PayPal handoff. PayPal is not contacted until you choose “Continue to PayPal.” That choice navigates to PayPal’s hosted donation page. PayPal—not the Site—collects and processes payment credentials, authorizes the transaction, applies its terms, and may deduct processing fees. Review the recipient, amount, frequency, currency, fees, and all other checkout information on PayPal before confirming.

The Site does not collect payment details or operate its own donation checkout. Only information confirmed in PayPal’s checkout governs the transaction. Unless AID expressly accepts a restriction in writing, donations are unrestricted and may be used where AID’s governing body determines they best support the charitable mission.

6.2 Voluntary gifts, taxes, and refunds

Donations are voluntary charitable contributions to support AID’s Public Emergency Codes initiative and related charitable purposes. No goods or services are promised in exchange unless expressly disclosed before checkout. AID is identified on the Site as a recognized 501(c)(3) public charity, EIN 93-3844837. Tax deductibility depends on applicable law and your circumstances; consult a qualified tax adviser and retain the transaction acknowledgement. PayPal’s record does not replace professional tax advice.

6.3 Projected impact and budget information

The Site describes a modeled high-end national impact of approximately 790 additional lives saved annually at full deployment and a projected recurring national budget of approximately $29.58 million, including about $27.22 million for education and integration and $2.36 million for organizational operations. These figures are forward-looking models and planning estimates—not guarantees, audited results, amounts already raised or spent, promises of a particular outcome, or commitments that any donor’s contribution will produce a stated number of lives saved or be spent in a specific state.

Actual programs, costs, allocations, vendors, fundraising, grants, staffing, partnerships, timelines, legal requirements, and outcomes may differ materially. Supporting documents may describe assumptions but do not eliminate uncertainty. AID’s authorized governing body retains discretion to approve and adjust budgets and uses of unrestricted funds consistent with law, donor restrictions it has expressly accepted, and the charitable mission.

7. Intellectual property, limited license, and acceptable use

7.1 Ownership

Except for public-domain material, open-source components, government information, user Feedback, and third-party names, marks, images, and materials, the Site’s original text, selection, arrangement, visual design, graphics, posters, branding, software, and other content are owned by AID/Public Emergency Codes or used with permission and are protected by applicable intellectual-property laws. Third-party marks remain the property of their owners and are used only for identification or attribution.

7.2 Limited permission

Subject to these Terms, we grant you a limited, revocable, nonexclusive, nontransferable license to access the Site and use its content for lawful personal, internal organizational, public-safety educational, and other noncommercial purposes. You may download and print the posters and generated contact materials for truthful public education, without modification except for customization created through the Site’s supplied phone-number and QR tools. You may share a link to the Site and may distribute permitted poster copies without charging for them, provided you preserve branding and notices and do not imply endorsement or official government status.

Code or other material made available through a linked GitHub, GitLab, F-Droid, or similar repository is governed by the license posted with that material, if any. A repository license controls over these Terms for the specific material it covers. Third-party JavaScript libraries and assets remain subject to their own licenses and notices.

7.3 Prohibited conduct

You may not:

• use the Site unlawfully, fraudulently, deceptively, or in a way that endangers anyone;
• represent the Site or its materials as an official government, 911, crisis, law-enforcement, medical, or dispatch service;
• submit a false county number, false identity, residential address for a commercial-only request, malicious file, or unauthorized phone number;
• abuse forms, evade rate limits or bot controls, probe for secrets, bypass access restrictions, or attempt unauthorized access;
• interfere with availability or security, introduce malware, overload infrastructure, scrape at a disruptive rate, or use automated tools contrary to access controls;
• remove notices, misappropriate branding, sell the Site’s free materials as your own, or use content in a misleading endorsement;
• infringe privacy, publicity, copyright, trademark, patent, confidentiality, or other rights; or
• assist another person in doing any of the above.

We may block, reject, rate-limit, remove, preserve, or report activity or submissions that we reasonably believe violate these Terms or threaten the Site or others.

7.4 Copyright concerns

If you believe Site content infringes your copyright or another intellectual-property right, email requests@emergency.codes with your contact information, identification of the protected work, the exact Site location, the basis for your claim, and a statement that your report is accurate and authorized. We may request additional information before acting.

8. Disclaimers, limitation of liability, and indemnity

8.1 “As is” and “as available”

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the Site and all content, directory entries, estimates, files, links, suggestions, and services are provided “as is” and “as available,” without warranties of any kind, express, implied, or statutory. We disclaim implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, noninfringement, accuracy, availability, security, and course of dealing.

We do not warrant that the Site will be uninterrupted, error-free, accessible, secure, compatible with every device, free of harmful components, or that information will be complete, current, or suitable for your situation. We may correct errors, change features, suspend forms, remove content, or discontinue any part of the Site without notice.

8.2 Third parties

Links and integrations are provided for convenience. We do not control and are not responsible for third-party availability, content, security, data practices, payment decisions, messages, carrier charges, search results, or acts and omissions. Your use of a third party is governed by that party’s terms and policies.

8.3 Limitation of liability

To the fullest extent permitted by law, AID, Public Emergency Codes, and their directors, officers, employees, volunteers, contractors, licensors, and service providers will not be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages; loss of data, goodwill, opportunity, revenue, or donations; personal injury, death, property damage, delay, misrouting, failure to obtain assistance, or reliance on information; or damages arising from third-party services, even if advised that such harm was possible.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, the aggregate liability of AID and Public Emergency Codes for all claims arising from or related to the Site or these Terms will not exceed the greater of US $100 or the amount, if any, you paid directly to AID for the specific Site service giving rise to the claim during the twelve months before the event. A charitable donation is not payment for a Site service.

Some jurisdictions do not allow certain warranty exclusions or liability limits. In those jurisdictions, these provisions apply only to the maximum extent permitted, and nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.

8.4 Indemnity

To the extent permitted by law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless AID, Public Emergency Codes, and their directors, officers, employees, volunteers, and contractors from third-party claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, losses, and reasonable costs arising from your unlawful or unauthorized use of the Site, your submission or distribution of content, your breach of these Terms, or your violation of another person’s rights. This obligation does not apply to the extent a claim results from the indemnified party’s own unlawful conduct.

9. Privacy, governing law, and general terms

9.1 Privacy

Our Privacy Policy describes how information is handled and is incorporated into these Terms by reference. Third-party services apply their own privacy notices.

9.2 Governing law and venue

These Terms and any dispute arising from the Site are governed by the laws of the State of South Dakota and applicable United States federal law, without regard to conflict-of-law rules. Subject to any nonwaivable consumer right or jurisdictional requirement, you and AID consent to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state courts located in Lincoln County, South Dakota, and the federal courts with jurisdiction over that county.

Before filing a claim, each party agrees to send the other a written description of the dispute and allow 30 days for a good-faith informal resolution, unless immediate injunctive relief is reasonably necessary or applicable law does not permit this requirement. These Terms do not require arbitration and do not waive any nonwaivable right.

9.3 General provisions

• Entire agreement. These Terms, the Privacy Policy, and any additional terms presented for a specific feature are the complete agreement regarding the Site and supersede prior statements on that subject.
• Order of control. Specific written terms presented for a feature control over conflicting general language in these Terms for that feature. PayPal and other third parties separately govern their own services.
• Severability. If a provision is unenforceable, it will be enforced to the maximum lawful extent or severed, and the remaining provisions will continue.
• No waiver. Failure to enforce a provision is not a waiver. A waiver must be in writing and applies only to the stated circumstance.
• Assignment. You may not transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our written consent. We may transfer them as part of an organizational restructuring, succession, or transfer of the Site, subject to law.
• No third-party beneficiaries. Except for parties expressly protected by the disclaimer, liability, and indemnity provisions, these Terms do not create third-party beneficiary rights.
• Electronic communications. You agree that notices posted on the Site or sent to an address you provide may satisfy electronic-notice requirements, subject to applicable law.
• Headings. Headings are for convenience and do not limit the Terms.

10. Contact

Questions about these Terms, donation errors, poster requests, copyright concerns, or the Site may be sent to:

Do not use these contact methods for an emergency or crisis.