Florida police use AI to take non-emergency calls

We're going to be talking about it yet again, and that's going to be Amendment 3, that property tax amendment, which did pass during the midterms and getting about 60% of that vote above that. So that means it will be codified into Florida law. And it's shaking up cities and counties all across the state. Lots of conversations going on. We'll hear later from Sheriff Rick Staley about how his county and sheriff's office are going to be kind of adapting to the new realities of Amendment 3. And already some sheriff's departments and emergency Are already making some pretty interesting changes and joining us live now to talk about this is former police chief Orlando Rolon. How are you doing on this Tuesday, sir? This is such an interesting topic here and I know that when we brought this up in our newsroom, the concept of using AI on 911 calls was- We got some pretty mixed reactions here. I know that just before we came back into the program, you and I were kind of talking about just the reality of this and kind of the operations here. So if you just wanna give your opinion on what exactly is going on on these emergency lines, just off the bat, what do you make of this change here? I think it's a positive change. I think technology can be used, as long as you leverage it properly, can be used to be a force multiplier. Imagine most communication centers will always report that about 50% of all the calls that come in are administrative, not necessarily a true 911 call. So allowing for the... Communication specialists to be able to focus on those important calls that need the human factor, the decision making process to go into effect, to free them up to be able to do that is a wonderful tool to have. And here in Florida, we're already seeing this being implemented by Winter Garden Police Department, the Volusia County Sheriff's Office. One of the things that I wanted to ask you about, AI is known to make mistakes. I think we know this from some using ChatGPT or Claude. I don't personally use those services, but I've seen online they sometimes do make mistakes. How can we rely on this piece of technology to kind of handle if someone does call that line and has a genuine emergency and gets an AI chatbot? How can we rely on that chatbot to deliver them to the right channels so that that emergency doesn't turn into something even worse? It has to be recognized that it's an evolving technology that keeps improving from day to day, even not from month to month or year to year. But with that said, having the right. Triggers to be able to recognize when the call needs to be transferred to someone else. I would venture to say that most programs that are available right now to law enforcement will tend to basically fall to the side of caution. Meaning if at any point during the process, it recognizes that maybe it needs to be transferred to a human being, then the systems will do that. The importance here is that what's critical and most important To any law enforcement agency is the safety of the citizens that they serve. So when someone calls and is requesting law enforcement assistance, then I guarantee that they'll do everything in their power to ensure that that is in fact what they deliver on. And I know we've been talking a lot about Amendment 3 for what feels like months now. And now that has passed, a lot of cities and counties, as I mentioned, are kind of looking at their budgets and trying to figure out how they're going to adapt to these new changes. Do you think this is a result of Amendment 3 budget cuts? Or do you think this is just a use of an evolving and new technology? To be honest with you, I think is the use of evolving new technology. I don't think every law enforcement entity, every government entity providing public service out there is always looking for ways to maximize their ability to do so. And to obviously, especially when you're dealing with taxpayers money, to be able to do it in an efficient way. So this is just another tool that obviously is available. That now continues to grow as far as its use. And I think you will see that there will be many layers that will involve technology moving forward. Again, meant to enhance the ability of public entities to provide services to the citizens they serve. And when we talk about what some of those uses of AI might be in the public sector as it pertains to police departments. Are there other regions or areas that you think this technology could be implemented for the police departments to better serve the public? Well, even with the use of cameras, a police department, a government entity to be able to purchase every camera that they wish to have in place would be very difficult. Partnering with citizens to be able to tap into certain camera systems. To be able to see when is it necessary to transfer that feed to a human being to evaluate it and recognize whether it requires a law enforcement response or not, that is a force multiplier. Imagine having 1,000 cameras and having an AI system. That basically tells you instead of focusing on 1000, I need you to put your attention on these 10 because the variables that have been put in place to recognize when something is not right is now triggering an opportunity for you to focus on these 10 cameras. That is what technology and AI is meant to do for the law enforcement profession. And it needs to be embraced, but with that also comes a huge responsibility. And that responsibility is to ensure that it means. It meets the expectations of our citizens that it obviously respects privacy and everyone is clear on the do's and don'ts when that technology is put in play. And if anyone out there would be hesitant and to accept this technology and they're still a little on the fence about calling that number and having an AI chatbot pick up I know we've talked a lot about the positives. If you had to give just a one sentence reassuring pitch there to anyone who's still a little bit hesitant about this, what would you say? It's the future, it's here. And everything we do in life today probably involves an AI format Thank you very much. of an answering call system. So to apply that in law enforcement, I think is a must. And I think that's certainly true. I know you can't really go online anymore without encountering AI, whether that's just on Google or any website that you go on. So it's important to note that. But Orlando Rolon, former Orlando police chief, thank you so much for joining us to kind of break down this new and evolving technology and being used right here in the state of Florida.