WARREN, Ohio - Justin Rodino was frustrated. It had been two days, he told the voice on the other end of the non-emergency line, since he’d first noticed the abandoned vehicle he was calling to report. 

“Understood,” the robotic voice responded. “Is the vehicle on the street, in a private lot, in an alley, or is it blocking access, like a driveway or a fire hydrant?”

In all reality, there was no vehicle. The call was a demonstration Rodino, principal solutions architect for RapidSOS, made Tuesday in front of the Trumbull County commissioners to show them how artificial intelligence could handle non-emergency calls. 

The commissioners are considering whether to purchase two AI modules from RapidSOS, an AI product that assists public safety dispatchers. As of now, they have until Jan. 1 to lock in for a price of roughly $40,000 for five years — after that date, the cost could double or triple, according to Trumbull County 911 Director Tracy McDonough. The commissioners have requested a 30-day extension on that deadline. 

If the county moves forward with the purchase, an AI bot would answer all calls on the non-emergency line — a separate phone number from 911. As Rodino described, the AI is capable of asking questions and gathering information about the caller’s report, which police or fire crews would then respond to when not working on emergencies. 

According to McDonough, the county dispatch center fields about 200,000 non-emergency calls per year, in addition to about 100,000 emergency calls. At the same time, it is falling below adequate staffing levels. 

“Currently in Trumbull County, we have 17 dispatchers,” McDonough told 21 News in an interview. “We should have anywhere from 25 to 30. Just like every other 911 center across the United States, we're short.”

Artificial intelligence would not be responsible for responding to true emergencies if the program is purchased. If a bot detects a real emergency on a non-emergency line, or cannot understand the caller, Rodino said in the presentation that it will transfer the call to 911. 

In emergencies, people who call 911 would still speak with a human dispatcher, but AI would listen in the background. McDonough told 21 News the AI can generate automatic transcriptions and translations. 

“So if you call 911 and you're someone who speaks a foreign language, I think they do over 200 languages right now, it will transcribe that conversation right on the 911 screen for the dispatcher to see, and it will also have the ability to translate back to them,” McDonough said. “They would be able to communicate with that person to let them know that help is on the way.”

The county commissioners are not without reservations about implementing the technology. At Tuesday’s meeting, they questioned McDonough and the RapidSOS team about several concerns, including the amount of up-front labor that would go into training the AI on information specific to the county that it would need to help callers. 

Commissioner Denny Malloy also expressed concern that purchasing the RapidSOS modules would be “getting the cart way before the horse,” and said he believes Trumbull County residents prefer human dispatchers over bots.

“911 is like a work truck,” Malloy said. “We don't even have a garage to put it in yet, and we want heated seats and Sirius Radio and everything else right now.”