Imagine a 911 dispatcher staring at multiple screens, juggling phone calls, tracking units and recording reports – all of which happened throughout the town. The pressure is huge, and the margin of the error is thin.
Now imagine the same dispatcher powered by AI: discovered interconnected events, automatic priority key calls, recommended units based on proximity and capability and real-time generated event summary to reduce cognitive burden while allowing humans to control decisions.
This is not science fiction – it’s the next chapter in public safety and is already in progress.
AI changes emergency dispatch by working behind the scenes to automate tasks, analyzing real-time data and raising awareness of situations. By embedding AI across workflows (from the moment the call to the final report), agents can be faster, smarter, and more efficient than ever before.
At the top of the call chain, AI redefined the classification. Now, the dispatching system can detect high priority keywords such as “weapon”, “unconscious” or “fire” because the call is transcribed in real time. These words are immediately marked, allowing supervisors to identify and act faster when critical events occur. It can also discover trends in service calls. For example, several calls in a close-range geographical area, including the words “yellow shirt”, “red car” and “stolen handbag”, may mark a string of related events that may be ignored as the changes change.
But it’s more than speed – it’s about browsing the right information at the right time, and in this regard, AI comes with another advantage: unit advice. Traditionally, determining the unit to be sent to a scene involves scanning the map, checking availability and making seasonal judgments. AI cuts this complexity by analyzing proximity, event types, resource availability and even past call data to come up with the most appropriate response unit. This helps prevent overdeployment, avoid unnecessary delays, and ensures that the right resources arrive at the right location – whether it is a fire truck with a specific ladder length or a recurring officer with a previously downgraded situation.
As the incident continued to unfold, AI did not retreat. It strengthened. Instead of a scheduler cobbling together scattered updates, AI-powered systems produce a concise, actionable event summary. These real-time reviews reduce the cognitive burden on dispatchers and enable field responders to reach the site equipped with complete situations: past events, potential hazards, nearby resources, and more.
Behind the scenes, this is all part of a broader shift: AI is helping unify fragmented data systems into a single operational picture. Public safety agencies are often overwhelmed by the patchwork of tools – from CAD and RMS to Body CAM video recording and IoT sensors. AI can connect these points and convert siloed data into actionable insights that support human decision-making from scheduling floors to command centers.
Integration is key.
AI can only provide value when it weaves it into workflows in a way that makes life easier. This is why intuitive design and interpretable models are important. They need to display their works, seamlessly fit everyday work and build trust in the glass box algorithm.
It is also important that AI is something that public safety professionals must regularly participate, not fire missiles. It is a tool, just like every other tool that an emergency dispatcher can use. While AI is a strong partner, humans remain at the center – making the final appeal, explaining the environment and ensuring the right way to fit every event.
These results are not theoretical. Supporting AI scheduling and classification has improved outcomes across the United States, where non-emergency calls across the United States are offloaded into cities where AI systems and translated in real-time languages to eliminate service barriers. In this field, AI-generated contextual briefings and resource predictions also help responders stay one step ahead, even if major events occur.
The future of public safety is not about replacing people with machines. This is to make people we trust use our security and they need to do better tools – faster decisions, clearer insights and more effective responses. As cities grow more complex and data continues to increase, AI provides a way to turn chaos into clarity. Public safety agencies that embrace this transformation will be better prepared – not only for the next call, but for the next era.
