<div dir="auto">This is interesting. And kind of scary.</div><div dir="auto"><br></div><div dir="auto"><br clear="all"><br clear="all"><div dir="auto"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Thank you,<div><br></div><div>Abby Griffith</div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote gmail_quote_container"><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_attr">On Wed, Jun 17, 2026 at 11:41\u202fAM Merribeth Greenberg via <a href="http://wcblists.org">wcblists.org</a> <merribethgreenberg=<a href="mailto:gmail.com@wcblists.org">gmail.com@wcblists.org</a>> wrote:<br></div><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;padding-left:1ex;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204)"><div dir="ltr"><div>I found this interesting.</div><div><br></div><div>Clark County\u2019s 911 center launches AI system to handle nonemergency calls</div><div>AVA intended to ease demand on human call takers, officials say</div><div>By Tyler Brown, Columbian Staff Reporter<br>Published: June 15, 2026, 1:17pm<br>Updated: June 16, 2026, 8:54am</div><div><a href="https://www.columbian.com/news/2026/jun/15/cresa-launches-ai-system-to-handle-nonemergency-calls/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=Morning+Briefing" target="_blank">Clark County\u2019s 911 center launches AI system to handle nonemergency calls - The Columbian</a></div><div><br></div><div>Clark County\u2019s emergency dispatch center is turning to AI to ease the burden on human 911 call takers.<br><br>Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency has launched AVA, a new artificial intelligence system to handle nonemergency calls. CRESA administrators hope the system will help address the dispatch center\u2019s address staffing constraints.<br><br>Developed by the technology company Aurelian, AVA is intended to free up live operators by fielding 311 calls and allowing call takers to prioritize 911 emergencies for the county\u2019s 500,000 residents, said Andrew Hahn with Clark Regional Emergency Services Agency.<br><br>But it\u2019s not like a traditional keypad phone tree, according to a news release from Aurelian. AVA is designed to engage callers in natural conversation and respond to inflection and tone in English, Spanish, Ukrainian and Russian, the most common languages requiring assistance in Clark County, Hahn said.<br><br>\u201cDispatch centers across the country are being asked to do more with the same teams, and the agencies that respond best are the ones that find ways to protect their telecommunicators\u2019 time,\u201d Max Keenan, CEO and founder of Aurelian, said in a news release. \u201cCRESA has built a strong regional operation that serves a large and growing population. Deploying AVA means their call takers and dispatchers can meet every emergency without being pulled away by calls that don\u2019t require them.\u201d<br><br>As of Monday, over 3 million calls have been handled by AVA and CORA, another AI system from Aurelian, according to its website.<br><br>Hahn said the AI can scale to handle a large volume of concurrent calls without a hold system and is currently answering half of the nonemergency volume. He said CRESA typically has about five call takers on the floor at a time who answer about 1,500 calls per day \u2014 600 nonemergency and 900 emergency.<br><br>CRESA does not have a metric for queue wait times, but callers who reach AVA are assisted immediately, Hahn said.<br><br>Hahn said call takers average a pickup time of under 15 seconds, but maintaining that speed relies entirely on staffing levels, which face severe physical and procedural bottlenecks. He said CRESA\u2019s budget is not the primary constraint limiting new hires; rather, the facility lacks the physical space to add more than its current 15 to 20 workstations.<br><br>The hiring time for a telecommunicator can take up to eight or nine months, requiring extensive public safety background checks, as well as psychological and physical hearing examinations. Hahn said many applicants drop out because they cannot wait for the process to conclude, saying the agency recently closed applications for a role that will not officially start until 2027.<br><br>Because of these staffing constraints, preserving human energy for real emergencies is critical, Hahn said. By fielding 311 calls, AVA directly relieves the call takers and allows them to focus their attention on life-threatening emergencies.<br><br>\u201cThe big thing to note is call takers have an extraordinary amount of task-handling they have to manage. It is a shocking thing to listen to the kinds of calls these people have to take,\u201d Hahn said. \u201cOne call can be someone calling to complain about, \u2018Hey, my neighbors\u2019 music woke up my baby.\u2019 But the next call can be \u2018My baby is blue in the face.\u2019\u2005\u201d<br><br>To prevent serious technological errors or so-called AI hallucinations from interfering with emergency responses, AVA primarily collects information, transcribes calls and follows strict routing rules to provide forms or send codes. Hahn said the AI actively monitors a caller\u2019s tone of voice and listens for specific triggers. If an emergency is described or someone sounds like they\u2019re in a panic, AVA automatically kicks the call over to a live agent.<br><br>Hahn stressed that deploying AI will not lead to job losses.<br><br>\u201cPeople are wary that this is a way to cut staff, but that\u2019s just not the case. Real humans are the heroes, and we want to make sure they\u2019re well taken care of,\u201d Hahn said. \u201cThis is meant to lighten their load and handle nonemergency calls faster without having to wait as long.\u201d<br><br>Dave Fuller, director of CRESA, echoed this sentiment in the agency\u2019s news release.<br><br>\u201cOur telecommunicators are the critical link between our community and the first responders,\u201d Fuller said. \u201cEvery nonemergent or routine call that AVA handles is time and focus returned to answering and responding to emergency calls. For the people we serve, that means quicker access to help when it matters most.\u201d</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr">Beth Greenberg</div></div></div></div>
<div width="1" style="clear:both;color:white">_._,_._,_</div>
<hr>
Links:<p>
You receive all messages sent to this group.
</p><p>
<a href="https://wcblists.org/g/clccb/message/827" target="_blank">View/Reply Online (#827)</a> |
<a href="mailto:clccb@wcblists.org?subject=Re:%20%5Bclccb%5D%20Clark%20County%E2%80%99s%20911%20center%20launches%20AI%20system%20to%20handle%20nonemergency%20calls" target="_blank">Reply to Group</a>
| <a href="mailto:merribethgreenberg@gmail.com?subject=Private:%20Re:%20%5Bclccb%5D%20Clark%20County%E2%80%99s%20911%20center%20launches%20AI%20system%20to%20handle%20nonemergency%20calls" target="_blank">Reply to Sender</a>
|
<a href="https://wcblists.org/mt/119855807/6800069" target="_blank">Mute This Topic</a>
| <a href="https://wcblists.org/g/clccb/post" target="_blank">New Topic</a>
<br>
<a href="https://wcblists.org/g/clccb/editsub/6800069" target="_blank">Your Subscription</a> |
<a href="mailto:clccb+owner@wcblists.org" target="_blank">Contact Group Owner</a> |
<a href="https://wcblists.org/g/clccb/leave/15017797/6800069/1879845073/xyzzy" target="_blank">Unsubscribe</a>
[<a href="mailto:abby.griffith2@gmail.com" target="_blank">abby.griffith2@gmail.com</a>]<br>
</p><div width="1" style="clear:both;color:white">_._,_._,_</div>
<p></p><p></p></blockquote></div></div>