Current staffing shortages across police, fire, and EMS agencies are making efficiencies harder to achieve. In fact, 87% of law enforcement officers work in departments that are not fully staffed. Meanwhile, 94% of firefighters and 86% of EMS professionals say their departments have faced staffing shortages in the past two years.
The impact of these hiring challenges are felt across the community, with 61% of police officers saying their response to low-priority calls has increased due to limited staffing. Similarly, more than half of EMS professionals say their department doesn’t have enough personnel to respond to emergency calls in the area.
To address these issues, many departments have turned to advanced technology to help them streamline manual tasks and embrace a more proactive approach to emergency response. The potential of artificial intelligence (AI) has dominated many industry conversations with, 64% of law enforcement professionals believing it will help reduce crime. That, in turn, would give officers more time to interact with their communities and develop proactive response plans.
With its current capabilities, AI can help officers analyze crime trends, predict future incidents, and strategize more coordinated responses. This is only the beginning of AI’s potential; let’s dive into the areas where AI could leave the most impact.
Boost Efficiency with AI-enhanced Connected Vehicle Technology
AI-enabled connected vehicle technology has the potential to minimize the likelihood of collisions and support safer, more efficient responses. When used to enhance vehicle-to-vehicle communication, AI could help prevent collisions and support safer roads, reducing the number of calls first responders receive.
If one vehicle, for instance, suddenly experiences a maintenance issue that requires it to brake hard, the AI-enabled cars behind it will receive a signal to decelerate, preventing a collision and traffic backup. Likewise, during a snowstorm, police departments could review vehicle data to identify areas where cars are skidding, so they can send additional plows and salt trucks to those areas.
AI also has the potential to streamline traffic light pre-emption, integrating emergency vehicle pre-emption capabilities with a department’s dispatch system. With an integrated solution, fire and EMS professionals would no longer need to push a button to request pre-emption when a call comes through to dispatch. Instead, AI-powered software could devise the optimal route to the scene and automatically adjust traffic lights along the way, so civilians receive red lights while emergency vehicles safely pass.
Similarly, AI supports more intuitive early warning systems, which alert the community that emergency personnel are responding. These systems provide important context to the vehicle, like the direction from which first responders are traveling and which side of the road they are approaching. This is critical to support road safety, as the side of the road is one of the most common accident points for first responders.
Enhancing Preparedness with AI-generated Data Insights
As departments collect more data, crime analysis teams must spend more time reviewing it before they can deliver insights. AI-powered software applications can review this data in an instant and categorize it into helpful takeaways. That frees crime analysis teams to spend more time strategizing to minimize the likelihood of future crimes, and it gives officers the insights they need to enter scenes with better situational awareness and a more strategic, coordinated approach.
Firefighters can also take advantage of AI-powered software to review building plans and gather suggestions on the optimal entry points when responding to a fire. Using AI to review all building plans for schools within their district, for example, firefighters can devise multiple response plans for different scenarios to ensure preparedness and more efficient and safe responses.
Achieve Better Situational Awareness with Real-time 911 Transmission
Especially in the face of current staffing shortages, any technology solutions that help police, fire, and EMS professionals respond more efficiently are critical. The benefits of AI begin with the dispatch process, where AI paired with the ability to transmit 911 calls live helps streamline the triage process, so responders arrive better prepared for a timely, effective response.
When someone reports an emergency to 911, there is a natural delay between when the call happens and when responders are dispatched to the scene. The call taker must transcribe the scenario into a computer program, review the information, and notify the appropriate responding agency.
AI boosts the efficiency of the process by analyzing the call and offering suggestions on which responders to send based on their current workload and location. The ability to listen directly to the 911 call means first responders enter the scene with better situational awareness.
Integrating AI into Emergency Response Workflows
As adoption of AI-powered solutions increases, departments need to ensure employees have access to proper guidelines, trainings, and technology to ensure effective use.
Above all, agency leaders must communicate that the purpose of AI-powered tools is not to replace humans but to support them for more efficient and effective emergency response. The goal of AI solutions is to streamline repetitive tasks so employees can focus more on strategic, high-touch workflows.
In addition to receiving the proper guidelines, first responders need access to laptops and tablets that support the increased processing power required to run AI-enabled software applications quickly and without rapidly draining battery life. For instance, we recently enhanced the TOUGHBOOK 40, adding the latest CPU, GPU, and NPU technologies to accelerate AI-driven tasks that emergency responders will increasingly rely on to be more efficient and proactive.
When implemented with the right guidelines and hardware like high-performance laptops and tablets, AI will be game changing for its ability to drive more efficient and proactive emergency response.
