The Utah Communications Authority (UCA), which oversees the state’s next generation 911 technology services, today announced that public safety answering points (PSAPs) throughout the state plan to implement Motorola Solutions’ Virtual Response technology to automate the receipt and resolution of 10-digit non-emergency line calls in Utah with the help of AI.

“An estimated 65% of Utah's 911 PSAPs' workloads are non-emergency line calls, like noise or parking complaints, that aren’t a true crisis,” said Tina Mathieu, executive director of UCA. “When a 911 call comes in, they have to put the non-emergency caller on hold, taking precious seconds away from responding to the real emergency. Now, every PSAP in Utah can use Motorola Solutions’ Virtual Response to focus call handlers’ time, while decreasing wait times for 911 callers in the midst of true crises.”

The AI technology allows callers to ask questions and receive answers in their native language and can respond to queries via voice or text, such as sharing the contact information for animal services if a caller reports a lost dog. PSAPs can also add an upfront automated message for non-emergency line callers in the same location, sharing for example that there’s a planned brush fire between specific highway exits. 

“There are some calls where the caller just wants a quick answer - it’s not a complex emergency requiring a multi-pronged response,” said Kevin Rose, executive director of the Weber Area Dispatch 911 & Emergency Services District, a PSAP in Utah. “AI can help take stress off our call handlers and free them to focus on the calls that really need their human empathy and expertise.”

The UCA is funding this statewide deployment, making Virtual Response accessible to all PSAPs in the state. These PSAPs can also deploy Assist for 911 and Radius Mapping, additional Motorola Solutions technologies available statewide that complement VESTA 9-1-1 call-handling software with enhanced AI and mapping features. Last year, the 27 PSAPs throughout Utah processed nearly 900,000 911 calls and over 2 million non-emergency line calls.

*Original elease from the Utah Communications Authority