The AI taking police calls while LA falls behind on 911 response times

A Florida tech firm says it can help pull Los Angeles’ overloaded 911 system back from the brink by letting artificial intelligence handle routine complaints.Public safety technology company Aurelian has developed an AI-powered call taker that answers police non-emergency phone lines, takes reports and routes complaints.The system handles everything from barking dog complaints and parking disputes to abandoned vehicles, lost property reports and suspicious activity calls.The pitch comes as Los Angeles continues battling chronic dispatcher shortages and slow emergency response times.A March report to the City Council found LAPD answered just 57.43% of 911 calls within California’s 15-second standard in 2024, far below the state’s benchmark requiring 90% of emergency calls to be answered within that timeframe.Staffing remains a major challenge.The California Post previously reported LAPD hired 144 dispatcher trainees in 2024 but only 56 in 2025 while losing 75 operators during roughly the same period.City officials have said about 100 operators must be on duty across a 24-hour period just to meet minimum staffing requirements.

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By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.Never miss a story According to Aurelian CEO Max Keenan, roughly 70% of calls entering a typical emergency communications center are not emergencies at all.“They’re barking dogs.

Parking disputes.Noise complaints.

Lost bicycles.Requests for city services.

The same people answer both calls,” Keenan told The California Post.“The analogy I use now is you basically train your team as Navy SEALs and you use them as mall cops.It is like the greatest misallocation of labor imaginable.”That reality led the company to build Ava, software designed specifically for the 10-digit non-emergency phone number...