From Hold to Help: Boost Citizen Experience with Automated Public Safety Solutions

Trust in 911 services starts with reliable, high-quality emergency call handling. While citizens may not think about customer experience (CX) during a crisis, they still expect the same level of technological efficiency, speed, and responsiveness they’re used to in the commercial world.

At the same time, 911 professionals and public safety answering points (PSAPs) are shifting their mindset around emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and automation. What was once met with hesitation is now being embraced as a new way to enhance efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability. That’s why more PSAPs are adopting these smart solutions to strengthen community connections and improve emergency communications.

Empowering Citizens with AI-Powered Automation

Finding new, better ways to connect with citizens is especially important in the case of non-emergency calls, which make up over half of all calls received by PSAPs. As Tim Kane (ENP, CMCP), the Operations Manager of the Arlington County Division of Public Safety Communications and Emergency Management, recently shared at Verint’s annual Public Sector Summit, 70 percent of calls received by the Arlington County PSAP were non-emergencies in 2022, which consumed an estimated THREE (!) hours of each shift, based on average processing time.

We’re talking about noise complaints and parking violation reports here. While these reports are important, they shouldn’t hold up emergency lines. Yet, placing non-emergency callers on hold can lead to frustration and a poor experience.

Picture a citizen annoyed by a loud car alarm at 2 a.m. What if, instead of waiting on hold, they could get instant help through a voice bot? Verint Non-emergency Call Automation for Public Safety can automatically filter and re-route such reports to the appropriate resources or self-service options, available 24/7. You can make citizens feel seen and served without compromising on emergency response time.

By offering assisted and self-service options, you can ensure your community members get what they need without delay, be it reporting a pothole, tracking service progress, or asking a question.

While emergency response will always require human involvement, AI and automation technologies can play a transformative role in handling non-emergency citizen interactions.

These are trusted technologies that have long been used in the private sector to elevate CX and are also proving their value in local government customer service centers and 311 centers, handling high-volume, routine requests.

Multichannel Automation That Serves Your Community

What if you could give your citizens the freedom to choose how they interact with your agency—via a web portal, a mobile app, or even a voice bot?

Verint’s CX automation solutions, including the AI-powered specialized bots, can empower your community members to resolve non-urgent issues on their own, on the communication channel they prefer. This multichannel approach ensures consistent service across platforms and creates an efficient, responsive, and reliable citizen experience.

To truly match and support your community’s specific needs, you can tailor event types, questioning formats, and interaction methods. Features such as emergency detection, citizen logins, and city-managed mapping ensure every interaction is relevant and accurate.

You can also allow your citizens to upload photos and videos to increase report accuracy and engagement, as well as enabling them to track the progress of their reports online.

Web Portals

Your agency’s website is already a trusted resource for your citizens, so instead of replacing it, enhance it. By making it more user-friendly and easier to navigate, you can help community members quickly understand what they can report and how to do it. A streamlined digital process encourages more people to use online channels, offering a faster, more reliable alternative to calling in.

With configurable pages and a consistent look and feel, your web portal can be tailored to your agency’s needs. Features such as knowledge management, chatbot support, mobile responsiveness, and citizen profiles make it easier for citizens to find information, get automatic status updates, and engage on any device.

Mobile Apps

With a dedicated mobile app, your agency can create a truly user-friendly experience. Designed with mobile devices in mind, apps offer intuitive interfaces and device-specific features that make it easier for your community to navigate and report issues on the go. They also help reduce access barriers by supporting different devices and languages, so more people can engage, regardless of their circumstances.

When the process is simple, citizens are more likely to use it—and keep using it. Beyond convenience, mobile apps also allow PSAPs to build tailored workflows, share real-time updates, and improve data visibility across telecommunicators, supervisors, and departments.

Voice Bots

Verint’s AI-powered Intelligent Virtual Assistants (IVAs) can deliver human-like interactions that resolve routine requests quickly and efficiently—without requiring a human dispatcher. These bots triage, route, and respond using standardized questions, ensuring complete and accurate data collection. Integrated with your existing CAD systems, they can enhance workflows without disruption.

And when a situation requires human support, you can easily set rules to transfer calls from the AI agent to a live dispatcher. The Verint solution ensures that these transitions happen smoothly, maintaining empathy and boosting citizen satisfaction while improving operational efficiency.

Transform Your PSAP With Verint

Automation over web portals, mobile apps, voice chat, and more can boost citizen experience for non-emergency interactions across channels. Learn more about how Verint Non-emergency Call Automation for Public Safety can help your agency re-route non-emergency calls to:

• Improve emergency call handling
• Enhance efficiency and ease call-taker workload
• Enable citizens to self-serve on non-emergency, routine requests.