Now featuring machines that might be smarter than Carl from night shift—maybe.
Meet Your New Robot Coworker
Remember when 911 centers ran on coffee, duct tape, and pure adrenaline? Well, welcome to the future—where Artificial Intelligence has elbowed its way into dispatch, promising to “optimize” everything short of your sanity. While your average dispatcher is juggling life-and-death decisions, misdialed calls, and people who think 911 is tech support for their Wi-Fi, AI is now here to lend a hand—allegedly. Whether it’s transcribing garbled yelling into readable text or pretending to know where someone “sort of near the Taco Bell” is calling from, AI is the new intern nobody asked for—but might actually be kind of useful. So, let’s take a look at the top 10 ways AI is muscling into the 911 center, sometimes in surprisingly helpful ways.
1. Automatic Call Transcription and Speech Recognition
If you’ve ever tried to decipher a caller mid-panic while also typing with one hand and flagging EMS with the other, congratulations—you’ve been a human doing three jobs at once. AI transcription tools now swoop in like over-eager assistants, turning frantic rambling into text.
Sure, sometimes it mishears “he’s choking” as “he’s joking,” but it’s improving. Bonus: these transcripts become searchable, so supervisors can review what was actually said versus what Carl thought he heard after hour nine of his shift.
Equature is now using this technology in their latest version of software. Every call is transcribed and summarized, helping you to find the exact call you are looking for without listening to lots of audio.
2. Natural Language Processing for Call Classification
You know that moment when a caller says, “Yeah, there’s like a situation,” and you have to become a human lie detector just to figure out what kind of “situation” we’re talking about? AI’s got a tool for that. Natural Language Processing (NLP) dives into the words, phrases, and overall chaos of a call to automatically classify what’s going on—whether it’s a domestic, a car crash, or someone swearing at squirrels in the park.
It’s not just keyword bingo either. These systems pick up on context, which means they can tell the difference between “I saw a weapon” and “He threatened me with a golf club”—without assuming everyone’s headed to the driving range. That saves time, helps with reporting, and means fewer rabbit holes for supervisors digging through audio.
Equature uses this intelligence in their latest version of software, giving the calls context and tagging them as domestics, welfare checks, and more.
3. Automated Location Detection and Geospatial Analysis
“I’m by the gas station… I think.” Sound familiar? AI can now attempt to piece together a caller’s location even when the directions are vague. By listening for place names, landmarks, and contextual clues in what’s said, it can surface likely locations in written form—making it easier for dispatchers to act quickly without chasing down confusing descriptions.
It’s not perfect, of course. Sometimes it hears “Main Street” and decides the caller is in the next county, or it faithfully transcribes “by the river” without clarifying which one of the five rivers in town. But even with the quirks, it’s a step up from getting “near the place where the old Walmart used to be” as your only clue.
Equature’s automatic transcription and call intelligence extracts location references directly from conversations and organizes them as part of the searchable record. If a caller mentions a business, landmark, or address, Equature flags it in text—helping dispatchers find details faster and improving clarity for both urgent and routine calls.
4. Insights from Recorded Calls to Guide Resource Allocation
Forget crystal balls—AI now just combs through all your recorded calls like the nosiest data analyst you never hired. Instead of guessing where to put people on a Friday night, these systems sift through past calls, look for patterns, and tell you things like: “Hey, maybe don’t understaff Saturdays when it’s full moon and prom night.”
We’re not talking live forecasting here. We’re talking good, old-fashioned hindsight—supercharged. It helps you see where resources should have been, so next time you’re not sending one unit to cover a zombie apocalypse plus a lost dog. Call it tactical hindsight with a spreadsheet.
While we know of some companies who are doing exactly this, predictive analytics, Equature has a feature called Insights within the newest version of the software. This can be used to look at the past calls and give you a variety of analytics to assist with strategizing resource management.
5. Intelligent Routing for Non-Emergent Calls
AI isn’t just for life-or-death moments. For non-emergency call taking—like reporting a pothole or a raccoon in a laundry room—AI can manage the basics. It recognizes the type of call, collects the details, and frees up dispatchers to stay focused on urgent incidents. And if the system detects an emergency, it can escalate immediately to a live call taker. Think of it as the ultimate filter—freeing up human resources to focus on urgent calls while still giving low-priority issues the attention they deserve.
Equature’s Communications Intelligence turns that concept into reality by automatically capturing caller information, transcribing, summarizing, and classifying interactions in near real time. Every call—urgent or routine—becomes searchable, trackable, and actionable, giving agencies both efficiency and accountability without adding staff.
6. Automated Quality Assurance and Compliance Monitoring
Manual QA review is like doing homework for every call ever made. Enter AI: the nosy coworker who listens to every call and keeps score—but, thankfully, doesn’t need coffee breaks or passive-aggressive emails.
These systems track protocol compliance, call length, tone, and whether critical questions were asked, all without falling asleep halfway through a 45-minute welfare check call. It’s like having a supervisor that never blinks and doesn’t hold grudges (yet).
Auto QA is another part of Equature’s latest software version. Now, PSAPs can score 100% of their calls, customizing what is evaluated. It won’t replace your QA Manager, but it will make their job a lot easier, and help determine when your dispatchers are excelling at their jobs, which is something we all want them to be recognized for.
7. Weapons Detection Through Video Analytics
Welcome to Minority Report Lite, weapons edition. AI now monitors real-time video feeds—like security cams and city surveillance systems—to detect the presence of weapons. Whether it’s identifying a firearm in a parking lot or spotting someone carrying something suspicious near a public event, the system sends alerts directly to command staff.
It’s not about replacing decision-makers but giving them critical awareness. And no, it doesn’t get fooled by squirt guns… usually.
Equature now has a weapon recognition software that many school campuses are using currently. Schools are using their own surveillance camera systems, adding Equature’s Aware software, and are now receiving alerts when a possible weapon is brought into the schools. It’s about time!
8. Training Simulations and Virtual Assistants for Dispatchers
Training dispatchers used to mean throwing them into the deep end and seeing who floats. Now, AI simulators create realistic (read: nightmare-fueled) scenarios using actual call data and emotional voice patterns. Trainees can botch calls in a fake environment before they’re let loose on the real ones—progress!
Virtual assistants also offer real-time support for questions like, “What’s the protocol for goats on the highway again?”—without judgment or side-eye. Think Clippy from Microsoft Word, but less annoying and with better answers.
Equature now has an AI call simulator for training and evaluation purposes. While still in beta-testing, it has the potential to help with pre-hire screening, new hire training, and even public education. The future is now!
Final Thoughts: Resistance Is Futile, but Kinda Helpful
AI isn’t here to take over the 911 center. But it is reshaping how dispatchers do their jobs, adding tools that (when they work) reduce the chaos just enough to help humans breathe. Whether it’s turning audio into readable transcripts, guessing where the next nonsense call will come from, or whispering, “Maybe don’t forget the EMD protocol this time,” AI is becoming the new teammate with zero sick days and questionable social skills.