To reduce the waiting time for “non-emergency” calls, the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department has implemented an Artificial Intelligence (AI) processing system.
According to a statement from the department on March 6th, as reported by the city news agency, all 911 emergency calls will still be answered by trained emergency service dispatchers. Officials stated that non-emergency calls will now be handled by an AI voice system named “Hyper”, which has undergone thorough training and testing.
The Hyper system will ask a series of brief questions to redirect calls to the appropriate law enforcement resources, provide necessary information to callers, or transfer them to dispatchers. Ashish Kakkad, Chief Information Officer of the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, stated: “Hyper’s AI voice system can help callers get the assistance they need more quickly. This is a practical application of technology that can improve the services available to the community. By automating the call transfer process for non-emergency calls, our trained operators can focus more on emergency situations that require judgment, empathy, and critical thinking.”
The department receives up to 400,000 non-emergency calls annually, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. With the new system in place, all interactions will be recorded in real-time and transcribed into text.
If the situation is urgent, the system cannot understand the caller, the caller requires a language or translation service not supported by the system, abnormal activities or inconsistencies are detected, or the caller’s request goes beyond the system’s standard operating procedures, Hyper will immediately transfer the non-emergency call to a trained emergency service dispatcher.
The non-emergency phone number for the department is 858-868-3200, used for reporting past crimes, inquiring information, filing reports, or contacting department personnel. In cases where life or property is threatened, a crime is in progress, serious bodily harm has occurred, there is a fire, or a medical emergency, 911 should still be dialed.
Hyper is a public safety technology company dedicated to building AI voice systems for non-emergency communications for law enforcement agencies. Their platform automates handling daily calls and ensures that emergency calls are promptly transferred to human dispatchers, helping emergency communication centers reduce wait times, increase efficiency, and enhance service to the public.
Hyper was founded by senior technology engineers, former government officials, and dispatch experts with extensive experience in voice AI technology.