Is artificial intelligence the future of 911? Maybe not entirely — but the technology is expanding in departments to assist dispatchers with both non-emergency and emergency calls.
Snohomish County, for example, has been using AI to handle non-emergency calls for more than a year.
The system uses a virtual assistant named Ava to instantly answer calls on its non-emergency line, which fields calls for things like noise complaints and fireworks reports. If calls are identified to be an actual emergency, they are immediately transferred to a human 911 dispatcher.
Callers can still request to speak to a human if they’d like.
“The win here is it was done for the community,” said Derek Wilson, the operations manager at Snohomish County 911.
Wilson said previously that these non-emergency calls could have wait times of 10 to 15 minutes. They’re also answered by the same dispatchers taking 911 calls, so Ava frees dispatchers up to focus on true emergencies.
Since launching in 2024, Ava has handled more than 220,000 non emergency calls.
“Making sure that the staff has the time, energy and focus to be spent where it actually matters most,” said Max Keenan, CEO of Aurelian, the Seattle-based company that created Ava.
Keenan said Ava has rolled out in about 15 states, and is in use by about 40% of departments in Washington state.
The program has worked so well for Snohomish County, the dispatch center is now helping Aurelian pilot its new AI tool: Cora.
Cora acts a co-pilot, guiding dispatchers during true 911 emergency calls. It can log notes and addresses, and provide helpful guides and questions for dispatchers specific to the emergency they are addressing.
It does not replace protocol — or tell dispatchers what to say or ask a caller — but simply provides reference points they can use, so they don’t have to spend extra time looking up those notes in a physical folder or binder.
“You’re expected, really demanded, in many ways, to be perfect on every single call,” Keenan said. “And it became this kind of idea of how could we help them make sure that they’re getting the right outcomes on every single call.”
As AI expands in dispatch centers, KIRO 7 asked Snohomish County 911 is AI could be the future of 911.
“I think AI assistance is, definitely on the emergency side,” Wilson said. “I don’t think it’s going to be replacing your call taker or dispatcher, but I think it’s going to really empower them with kind of an unprecedented amount of help live in the call.”
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