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Police force to trial AI 'agents' on 101 service
Call-handling agents powered by AI are to be trialled by Staffordshire Police in a bid to cut waiting times for the non-emergency 101 service.
The force is set to become the third in the country to take part in the scheme testing the use of artificial "agents" to deal with calls.
Under the system, the AI agent would deal with simple queries like requests for information without the need for human involvement, freeing up call handlers and reducing answering times.
Staffordshire Police has previously had lengthy waits on its non-emergency 101 service, although answering times and abandonment rates have both improved over the last 12 months.
Staffordshire commissioner Ben Adams questioned senior officers about the use of technology to further improve contact centre performance during a police public peformance meeting.
Acting Chief Constable Becky Riggs confirmed the force would be looking to launch the AI pilot early in the new year.
'Very positive reports'
"It's a piece of technology called Agentforce. It will help with our response to the public, which historically we know we haven't done well."
The senior officer said that sometimes people are not calling to report a crime, but want more information, which the technology could help with.
However, if the system detects keywords suggesting vulnerability or risk or emergency, then it will be able to divert the call to a human being.
"Thames Valley have gone live with that pilot and they are reporting very positively in relation to that."
Assistant chief officer for resources John Bloomer stressed AI would only be used for non-emergency contacts, and in future the system could point people to other agencies if it was a non-policing matter.
Staffordshire Police currently takes an average of 3.3 minutes to answer 101 calls, down 53% on the 7.1 minute average in the previous 12 months.
'Significant intelligence'
The abandonment rate for non-emergency calls has also fallen from 29.2% to 18.7 %.
After triage, callers who need to speak to a specialist operator face a median wait of 8.75 minutes.
But Mr Adams raised concerns that around eight per cent of callers are left waiting for over an hour.
Ms Riggs said the force was calling back members of the public who had experienced lengthy 101 waits, to apologise and discuss their reason for calling.
"We have reaped the benefits of significant intelligence as a result of those call backs.
"I think we've surprised people and increased their confidence by taking that kind of approach."
Police trial AI chatbot for non-emergency calls
Two police forces in the South are trialing an AI chatbot called Bobbi, to answer frequently asked, non-emergency questions and help ease pressure on call handlers.
Thames Valley Police and the Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary say they are the first forces in the country to employ the technology.
Chief Superintendent Simon Dodds said: "This is not about cutting staff."
"It's not unusual within Hampshire and Thames Valley to see 5,000 calls come into our rooms across a 24 hour period and trying to prioritise the 999 calls above the 101 calls and online demand is a real challenge for us," he said.
Bobbi is an additional service which will operate alongside existing telephone lines, online forms and front counters.
The force said it had been tested by more than 200 people during its development, including representatives from victim care groups.
The AI has been trained on the same information referenced by the two police forces' call handlers and digital desk operators.
If Bobbi is unable to answer a question, or if the user says they want to speak to a person, the conversation will be redirected to a member of police staff.
Chief Superintendent Simon Dodds said: "By providing quick responses to commonly asked, non-emergency questions, Bobbi will enhance our service to our communities, ensuring that every member of the public can get the help they need, whenever they need it.
"Bobbi will always remain as a work in progress so whilst we are launching the technology today after an intense building and testing period, our experienced staff will continue to train it to fix any bugs, remain up-to-date with legislation and policies and evolve the technology in line with the needs of our communities."
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