Volusia County using AI to help with non-emergency calls

AI system to handle non-emergency calls in Volusia County

The next time someone in Volusia County dials for help, the voice on the other end of the line might not be human.

VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. - The next time someone in Volusia County dials for help, the voice on the other end of the line might not be human.

A new artificial intelligence system named "Ava" has joined the county’s communications center to handle non-emergency calls, freeing up dispatchers to focus on 911 emergencies.

The backstory:

"Ava" takes reports such as minor traffic crashes with no injuries, animal control issues, and requests to speak with officers. The system collects information from callers and forwards it directly to the appropriate department.

"A motor vehicle accident where nobody's injured, a lot of animal control, a lot of people would like to speak with officers as well," said Communications Shift Commander Brittany Yisrael.

The AI system, developed by the technology company Aurelian, is designed to make non-emergency calls faster and more efficient.

"In many ways, the non-emergency line has become kind of the pseudo-311 for a lot of these areas," said Max Keenan, Aurelian’s CEO. "It’s just the dumping ground of ‘I don’t know who to call, so I’m going to call the non-emergency line.’"

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Volusia County Sheriff Mike Chitwood said the system is simple for residents to use and won’t leave callers frustrated by automated menus.

"Nobody gets more frustrated than I am when you call, and you want to talk to a person, and you’re pounding the pound key," Chitwood said. "This is not like that."

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Yisrael said Ava follows the same process dispatchers use. "Every possible question that we would ask, Ava is asking that caller," she said. "We’ll read it in its entirety and briefly put in the comments what happened and what this caller is concerned about."

If the AI detects an emergency, the call is automatically transferred to a live 911 dispatcher.

Since August, Volusia County’s dispatchers have handled more than 70,000 calls, with Ava successfully resolving 98.5% of non-emergency reports, officials said.

"It cuts down on their responsibilities, it makes them more accurate, it makes them better employees," Chitwood said.