Merseyside UK Police Force launches chatbot for non-emergency calls

Merseyside Police has introduced a new AI chatbot called Bobbi on its website. The chatbot is designed to help people with non emergency police related questions and reduce the number of unnecessary calls to the police. The force receives around 2,000 calls every day about which 1,200 are made to the non-emergency 101 service, while around 800 are emergency 999 calls. Police officials believe that around 20% of these calls do not need to be handled by a trained police operator.

Bobbi is designed to deal with some of the basic routine enquiries. Users can visit the Merseyside Police website and start a conversation with the chatbot. It first asks whether the situation is an emergency. If it is emergency then the user is told to call 999. If it is not an emergency then the person can provide their name, email address and phone number and explain their problem. The chatbot is also designed to recognise when someone may be distressed. According to Fairhurst, Bobbi can detect these signs and when necessary it can also pass the conversation to a digital operator. If the situation becomes an emergency then the person will be told to call 999. Bobbi is also being trained to understand spelling and grammar mistakes. It can also communicate with people in different languages, rather than only English.

The chatbot Bobbi can then give advice and direct people to the right service. Merseyside Police Supt Tony Fairhurst said the new system is meant to make it easier for people to get help while also reducing pressure on police staff. He also added “20% of the calls we get to Merseyside Police don't need to be dealt with by a policing operator.”  Fairhurst also made it clear that Bobbi is not replacing existing services by saying,  “101 is not going away.” Instead, the chatbot is being offered as an additional option for people who are comfortable using an online service. Fairhurst said it could help people get information “quicker” and “faster” while allowing contact officers to focus on calls that need more attention. There are also questions about the safety of personal information entered into the chatbot. Fairhurst said the information is “as safe as any other of our police systems.” He also explained that users do not have to provide information if they do not want to use the service.

Lastly, Merseyside Police says it is the first police force in the North West of England to introduce this type of AI service. The main aim is to make it easier for people to deal with simple, non-urgent issues online while keeping police operators available for people who need more direct help.

For more information on IT Services, Web Applications & Support kindly call or WhatsApp at +91-9733733000 or you can visit https://www.technodg.com