How Amazon Connect Is Speeding Up Emergency Dispatch

Last year, I witnessed a car wreck near my home. The accident looked bad, and I immediately called 911.

The response? Less than immediate.

In fact, I sat on hold for seven and a half minutes, waiting for a dispatcher to pick up the call. Luckily, the driver only had a concussion. But if his injuries had been more serious, those 450 seconds might have been the difference between life and death.

Nationally, a number of jurisdictions are struggling to resolve long hold times for 911 calls, as well as long response times. In 2024, it took New York City officers an average of 15 minutes and 23 seconds to respond to calls regarding crimes in progress. Even for “critical” crimes like shootings, robberies and burglaries, officers in the five boroughs took an average of 9 minutes and 24 seconds to respond, a lag that has been attributed in part to staff shortages.

Part of the problem is that emergency call centers are drowning in nonemergency calls. According to a report from NENA, a professional association focused on 911 issues, 63% of public safety professionals say that between 50% and 80% of their calls are for nonemergencies, such as noise complaints, welfare checks, lost property and minor disputes.

Several departments are solving this problem with CDW’s Amazon Connect Non-Emergency Response Solution, a cloud-based contact center powered by AWS. The solution includes generative AI automation with self-service capabilities powered by Amazon Bedrock, connecting callers with nonemergency resources to both help them solve their problems and free up the 911 line for callers with true emergencies.

Because the Non-Emergency Response Solution is built on Amazon Connect’s contact center technology, it is easy to set up and simple to operate. About 80% of the platform is standardized; we use our expertise to customize the remaining 20% for each department. This means that we’re able to stand up the solution, from start to finish, in about six weeks.

We train the AI-powered platform on public safety departments’ websites and internal data to give it the information it needs to instantly answer nonemergency callers’ questions or automatically route those calls to the city or county organization that handles the specific issue.

Emergency callers still go straight to 911 dispatchers, but they no longer need to wait in a queue that is clogged with people asking about traffic tickets and dog licenses. The system also detects sentiment, ensuring that emergencies are always routed to 911 dispatchers.

By cutting out the 50% to 80% of 911 calls that aren’t true emergencies, the cities and counties using CDW’s Amazon Connect Non-Emergency Response Solution are reducing hold times, reducing staffing strains and providing a better public experience.