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Halton regional police in Ontario are implementing AI technology provided by GovWorx to improve hiring and training for 911 call takers and dispatchers. The system creates emergency call simulations to assess candidates' abilities before they join the force, aiming to address staffing shortages by ensuring new hires can succeed through rigorous training that typically takes about a year. This initiative is said to cut candidate evaluation time in half and already shows success in reducing 911 wait times.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-09,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
Halton regional police in Ontario, Canada, are utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) provided by GovWorx, an American firm, for hiring and training 911 call takers. The AI technology creates emergency call simulations that assess candidates' decision-making, communication, and crisis management skills before they start their training. This approach aims to address the force's staffing challenges, as some hires struggle during the year-long training period. Since its implementation, the AI has handled 95,367 calls, engaged in 1,195 hours of conversation with residents, and sent out over 2,470 text messages for various assistance purposes. Additionally, the technology is being used to evaluate 911 communicators' performance after hiring.
Written for “AI In Police Training Hiring” on 2026-10-09,
grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political
question, so it has no leaning score. That is an
answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly
or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it
anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political
position.
No political leaning scored for article 69304 · logged 2026-10-09
Halton regional police in Ontario are using artificial intelligence in the recruitment and training of 911 call takers and dispatchers.
asserted
police → use → takers
The force said American AI firm GovWorx provides the technology to create emergency call simulations to help 911 applicants improve their decision-making, communication and crisis management skills.
asserted
applicants → say → skills
Halton police 911 communications bureau manager Brian Dodd said the new technology helps the force identify the right candidates from the beginning of the hiring process.
asserted
force → say → process
He said the department has been facing a staffing crisis because not all candidates applying for 911 jobs succeed in their training after they are hired.
asserted
they → say → training
“The training takes quite a long time, takes close to a year,” he said in an interview.
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he → take → interview
“What we’re trying to (do) at the very beginning stage in recruiting, is to find the right candidates … and this software helps us do that through some testing and using AI scenarios.”
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us → try → scenarios
Dodd said police are also using the same AI in 911 communicator training and it will be used to evaluate their work after they are hired.
asserted
they → say → work
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“We are proud to be the first Canadian customer and the first Canadian agency to be using this type of technology,” he said.
asserted
he → get → technology
Halton police said the use of AI in the hiring of 911 dispatchers reduces candidate evaluation time by 50 per cent.
asserted
use → say → cent
“This technology is used successfully in hundreds of communication centres in the U.S.” Dodd said.
asserted
Dodd → use → U.S.
“We’ve been working with them and speaking to them about the success.”
asserted
We → work → success
He said the Halton police service currently has 75 dispatchers and call takers and is aiming to hire between four and eight new ones this year.
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service → say → ones
Halton police started using another technology called SARA AI to take certain types of non-emergency phone calls.
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police → start → calls
They said the SARA AI reduced 911 wait time by almost two seconds a call.
asserted
AI → say → seconds
“There is a standard in North America, that we can proudly say that we meet, which is that 90 per cent of all 911 calls are answered within 15 seconds,” Dodd said.
asserted
Dodd → be → seconds
“Obviously, if we can do better than that … that’s what we strive to do.”
asserted
we → do → what
Police say the bot has answered 95,367 calls so far this year, spent 1,195 hours talking to residents and sent more than 2,470 text messages to people to help them report incidents elsewhere, such as through the collision reporting centre.
asserted
them → say → centre
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