Time. It’s something many of us feel there’s never enough of. The same is true for Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP) when it comes to non-emergency calls that impact the resources and time available to handle true 9-1-1 calls for service. If telecommunicators are busy handling non-emergency calls, they have to put the non-emergency call on hold to answer the 9-1-1 call – which takes time.
Meet Virtual Response Assistant, a Motorola Solutions cloud service that uses AI to automate the receipt and resolution of designated non-emergency calls. Weber Area Dispatch 911 & Emergency Services District in Utah is one of the first centers in the nation to use and test the service. “I see Virtual Response Assistant as a workforce multiplier,” says Kevin Rose, the district’s Executive Director, “to help us reduce the number of non-emergency calls so our call takers can focus more on 9-1-1 calls.”
With 22 positions, Weber is a consolidated center serving Weber and Morgan Counties and dispatches for 12 fire agencies and 17 police agencies. “We get a lot of calls where people are calling for information and we’re just transferring them. Some of the non-emergency calls ask the same basic questions with little variation,” explains Kevin. Last year, Weber answered 92,000 9-1-1 calls and 204,000 non-emergency calls and – more than a 2 to 1 ratio.
Kevin has been in public safety for 20 plus years and seen the challenges and successes from different roles – dispatcher to deputy sheriff to paramedic and now as director of the district.
“We have always had staffing shortages in public safety. It’s nothing new,” Kevin recalls. “But in the last five years, the problem seems to have compounded. If we can reduce the number of non-emergency calls for our district, by even a quarter, that translates to personnel and gives us more bandwidth to manage the staffing shortages.”
Kevin believes the impact of AI on 9-1-1 is positive. “AI is going to help us provide better service to our citizens and our responders. It’s not replacing people. It’s going to make us more effective in the job we do and that’s what I’m really excited about.”
Virtual Response Assistant is available with Motorola Solutions VESTA 9-1-1 and VESTA NXT call handling software. Learn more.
