The Utah Communications Authority, which manages 911 tech services for the state, is deploying the Virtual Response Assistant tool from Motorola Solutions.
The product is designed to use AI to resolve non-emergency calls that 911 operators and dispatchers would otherwise have to handle. The AI can give answers to those calls through voice or text responses, and in the caller’s native language. The system can also reroute calls to proper departments — a call about a broken water main, for instance, could be directed by the system to a public works staff member.
Doing so can free up those call takers to focus on emergencies, which in turn can speed up responses by police, firefighters and medical personnel.
The time savings can add up, Tina Mathieu, the authority’s executive director, told Government Technology.
That’s because those non-emergency calls can eat up to 65 percent of a call taker’s time. That can be especially painful for small towns or police and fire districts where a single person handles all the call-taking and dispatching duties.
“In some ways, [this tool] is more useful for smaller [public safety answering points],” she said.
The system relies on what Mathieu called “closed AI.” That means the information comes from what those public safety answering points (PSAPs) program into the system instead of having the AI engaged in ongoing learning based on outside data.
PSAP directors need to undergo training before deployment, but not individual call takers, she said.
Virtual Response Assistant stands as the latest AI-backed tool being sold to emergency call centers, the operation of which are undergoing constant tech upgrades as part of a push to bring those centers further into the 21st century. For instance, artificial intelligence is helping emergency response officials conduct quality assurance, potentially saving the costs of hiring human professionals.
