ONTARIO, CANADA – The Halton Regional Police Service (HRPS) out of Ontario, Canada, is becoming the first police agency within the country to embrace an AI training platform for their 911 call center operations, with officials expressing optimism regarding expected outcomes from the novel effort.
On October 8, the HRPS issued a press release announcing “a groundbreaking artificial intelligence training platform designed specifically for 911 communicators.” Per the agency’s release, the AI-driven effort is the first of its kind within Canada, where 911 call center personnel will be exposed to “realistic and interactive emergency call simulations” prior to ever handling a genuine emergency call.
According to HRPS officials, these interactive scenarios powered by AI are aiming to hone the skills of 911 operators in a controlled environment. Operators and dispatchers will be subjected to scenarios where their crisis management and communication skills will be put to the test, all in an effort to ensure that when the real calls start coming in, said personnel will be ready to assist.
HRPS Superintendent Raf Skwarka, who serves as the Commander of Support Services, is among those championing the effort, saying the endeavor is another step toward “modernizing public safety.”
“We are leveraging AI that is designed with safety, transparency and accountability at its core. The new tool represents another significant investment in modernizing public safety and ensuring our frontline communications professionals are equipped to provide exceptional service when every second counts,” Superintendent Skwarka stated.
The aforementioned AI-driven technology is also going to be leveraged for candidate screening, which officials say will reduce candidate evaluation time by fifty percent while also elevating top talent
HRPS Communications Manager Brian Dodd said of the applicant screening process, “With the high volume of applications we receive, it is essential that we identify the strongest candidates as efficiently and effectively as possible. We will use this in our recruitment stage to reduce candidate evaluation time in half, improve successful 911 communicator sign off and make hiring more data driven.”
The Ontario-based police outfit has been leading the way with AI solutions, as the implementation of SARA AI (Smart Answering Routing Assistant) last year has reportedly reduced 911 wait times significantly due to intelligent routing of incoming calls when non-emergency situations are appropriately routed elsewhere. Since rolling out SARA, the platform has handled over 95,000 calls and was able to appropriately divert over 10,000 calls to alternative reporting channels.
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