PORTLAND, Oregon — Come Monday, the city of Portland’s Bureau of Emergency Communications (BOEC) will begin testing a form of Artificial Intelligence (AI) while handling non-emergency calls.
During the city's public safety call allocation work session last week, BOEC Director Bob Cozzie said they planned to use a system called Case Service Reporting and would turn it on a couple hours each day to test and refine it.
“An automated attendant will answer the phone on non-emergency,” explained Cozzie. “Based on the answers, using Artificial Intelligence — and that's something that's kind of a scary word for us at times—but using Artificial Intelligence will determine if that caller needs to speak to an actual call-taker or if that can get that referral information directly, and transfer the caller to 311”.
Cozzie said assuming the testing goes well, he'll determine if using AI is a possible option for 311 callers. Right now, 311 gives community members access to local government programs and services. The city is considering the idea of using it for all non-emergency response calls.
“The caller then calls 311, they get that AI attendant and it's smart enough to know that ok, I'm going to transfer you to BOEC or I'm going to transfer to 311, or provide the information you need right now,” said Cozzie.
Cozzie said the system can even text information to callers, including connecting them to various websites for web reporting.
According to BOEC, call volume has grown every year since 2011, with nearly a 28% increase overall. Reallocating non-emergency calls is one of several options the city is considering to alleviate call constraints exacerbated by dispatch staffing shortages.
A study conducted by Mission Critical Partners and commissioned by the City of Portland found that directing all non-emergency calls to 311 could reduce BOEC's call volume by 180,000 calls or nearly 17%. However, city officials noted they’re a long way from making that possible transition given that 311 currently only operates Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.
In the meantime, Mike Myers, the city's community safety transition director, said something must be done to manage growing call volume before it overwhelms the city's emergency response bureaus. That includes answering tough questions to lay the groundwork for future change.
“A day doesn't go by when we don't see a press release that says we couldn't make the call, we couldn't get someone there because we're just too busy,” said Myers. “Staffing alone will not do it.”