Owen Sound residents calling police to report minor property damage or stolen items will now be connected to CARA, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) voice assistant.
The police service has teamed up with Hyper AI to launch the Community Assistance and Response Agent, or CARA, to answer non-emergency calls to the Owen Sound Emergency Communications Centre. The AI-assistant will greet callers, identify the nature of their request, collect preliminary details, and either provide relevant information or transfer the call to a human operator. It will not answer 911 calls.
"The introduction of CARA is an important step forward in how we support the communities we serve," Police Chief Craig Ambrose said in a statement. “Our dispatchers handle a significant volume of calls every day for multiple communities across Ontario. By introducing AI technology to assist with non-emergency inquiries, we can ensure our dispatchers remain focused on urgent situations while still providing prompt and efficient service to the public.”
The introduction of the AI-assistant comes at a time when police services across North America are dealing with increased demand on non-emergency phone lines. The police services stated that leveraging AI technology will reduce operational strain and better serve community needs.
The Owen Sound police non-emergency line can be reached by dialing 519-376-1234.
