REGION — Non-emergency calls to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office will be answered by an artificial intelligence processing system beginning this weekend, an effort officials say will reduce waiting times for callers who do not require a 911 response.
All emergency calls to 911 will continue to be handled by trained emergency services dispatchers, according to a statement released Friday by the Sheriff’s Office. Calls to the non-emergency number will now be greeted by a voice AI agent known as Hyper.
The system asks callers a short series of questions to direct them to the appropriate sheriff’s resource, provide requested information or connect them with a dispatcher.
“Hyper’s Voice AI system helps get callers the assistance they need faster. It’s a practical use of technology that improves outcomes for our community,” said Ashish Kakkad, chief information officer for the San Diego County Sheriff’s Office. “By automating the routing of non-emergency calls, our trained call takers can focus more of their time on emergency situations that require judgment, empathy and critical thinking.”
The Sheriff’s Office receives up to 400,000 non-emergency calls each year and operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Under the new system, all interactions will be recorded and transcribed in real time.
If a situation turns out to be an emergency, the system does not understand the caller, a language or translation service is needed, unusual activity is detected, or the request falls outside the system’s standard procedures, Hyper will immediately transfer the call to a trained emergency services dispatcher.
The sheriff’s non-emergency number, 858-868-3200, should be used to report past crimes, request information, make a report or contact a member of the Sheriff’s Office when there is no emergency.
The 911 system should still be used when there is an immediate threat to life or property, a crime in progress or a serious injury, fire or medical emergency.
Hyper is a public safety technology company that builds AI voice systems designed for non-emergency police communications. The platform is intended to help emergency communication centers reduce wait times and improve efficiency by automatically handling routine calls while ensuring urgent calls reach human dispatchers immediately.
