The St. Louis County Police Department used artificial intelligence technology to reduce wait times for 911 for county residents.
Brian Battles, management specialist for the Department of Communications, said: “However, over the last three years, we have noticed a decline in the number of applications for public security dispatcher positions and an increase in workload. was.”
Dispatchers handle about 2,000 calls a day, splitting roughly 50/50 between 911 and non-urgent issues, such as how to get a copy of a police report. Battles said the priority is always to call 911 for him, but once the dispatcher answers non-emergency calls, they can’t switch if an emergency call comes in.
“And you’re stuck in a five-minute conversation with someone on a non-urgent phone call and you can’t offer them any assistance anyway,” he said. Therefore, people who need to call 119 may have to wait for the next available operator.
To free dispatchers for 911 calls, the agency had to find a way to divert non-urgent calls. Battles said the agency struck a deal with his AT&T after consulting with other agencies and looking at trends in the country. AT&T uses Five9’s intelligent voice assistant.
Brian Munoz
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st louis public radio
According to Battles, the volume of non-emergency calls answered by dispatchers has dropped by 60% since the system went live in March.
Battles said all 911 calls are still handled by dispatchers. However, if you dial the non-emergency number (636-529-8210), you will be answered with a voice saying, “Tell me what you are calling.” The system is programmed to recognize keywords and phrases and transfer the caller to the correct department, but if the system mistakenly transfers him twice, it will lead to the actual person in charge.
Matt Crecelius, business manager for the St. Louis County Police Officers Association, says the system “will be of great benefit to the community and emergency dispatchers” by making the workload more manageable.
Donald Wunsch, director of the Center for Artificial Intelligence and Autonomous Systems at the Kumar Institute at Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla, said residents should give the system a chance.
“In many cases, this system can transfer you in as good a direction as a random person operating that system,” he said. It’s a bit annoying having to transfer 5 times to get to .”
