Long Beach to use new AI program to review 911 dispatch calls

The city of Long Beach will soon be using artificial intelligence to review 911 calls as part of a first-of-its-kind program, and officials assure it’s not meant to replace jobs.

The city receives approximately 600,000 911 calls every year.

According to national standards, at least 2% of those calls should be reviewed annually for quality assurance. That comes out to 12,000 calls in Long Beach.

Before, supervisors were tasked with manually reviewing them, which is why the city believes AI can help.

“With this AI tool, we’re actually able to review 100% of the calls,” said Reginald Harrison, Director of the City of Long Beach’s Department of Disaster Preparedness and Emergency Communications.

The program is called CommsCoach AI and was developed by a company called GovWorx.

The company says around 250 other 911 call centers across the country – including in California – currently use the technology. It currently has a $68,000-a-year contract with GovWorx until February 2028.

Harrison said the program will review emergency calls and assign a score to every call, rating how the dispatcher handled it.

Dispatchers will be assessed on their professionalism, tone, follow-up questions and judgment.

Each call will be part of an employee’s overall evaluation status. Harrison said most dispatchers were not surprised by the technology’s introduction.

“I think the dispatchers that have kept up with the industry are not surprised because we’ve seen across the country other call centers using AI in a number of different ways,” he said.

Supervisors previously tasked with assessing the calls will now review the ones that are flagged by the program and provide coaching.

Harrison guarantees that the goal is to get better, not to replace jobs.

“AI will not replace dispatchers. AI will not take calls. AI will not replace human judgment,” said Harrison.

He said the city spent months working to address privacy concerns.

The program is preparing to store sensitive personal data, including names, addresses and health information.

The city’s data security team vetted the software thoroughly to ensure it follows city guidelines, as well as HIPAA and other mandates.

“The information that AI is listening to stays within the city’s secure data system does not leave the City of Long Beach,” said Harrison.

The program is currently in a pilot phase, and officials hope to launch it as soon as possible.