The Halton Regional Police Service has launched an artificial intelligence call processing system designed to handle non-emergency phone calls. The police service issued a news release on Monday saying that while all 911 calls will continue to be handled by a live agent, non-emergency calls will now be greeted by a “responsive and adaptive automated voice named ‘SARA (Smart Answering Routing Assistant).’” The release added that callers will be asked a series of short questions to determine whether their inquiry can be handled by the system or if it should be transferred to a live agent. The interaction will be recorded and transcribed in real time, police said. The release stated calls will immediately be transferred to a live agent if the situation evolves into an emergency, the system does not understand the caller, the caller does not speak English and requires translation services, unusual activity or discrepancies are detected or if the AI system determines it cannot address the caller’s needs. “We’re not only confident in SARA’s performance, but we’re proud to be adopting such reliable and cutting-edge technology that will help us reduce the number of non-emergency calls our communicators spend time on, which at the moment is approximately 160,000 per year,” said Jeff Hill, Deputy Chief of the Halton Regional Police Service. “This step forward will undoubtedly improve our service to the community by ensuring those who are reporting non-emergencies receive immediate assistance, while affording more resources to our Communicators who can focus on emergency calls that will ultimately enhance public safety.”
