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Pennington County 911 to train Mead County dispatchers, piloting AI tool for quality assurance
Summary
Pennington County’s Emergency Communications Center will host a two‑week training exchange for Mead County dispatchers and approved a 12‑month CommsCoach pilot to accelerate quality assurance and training, at a reduced pilot price. Commissioners supported the collaboration and purchase after staff and user‑board endorsement.
The Pennington County Emergency Communications Center will provide a two‑week training exchange to assist Mead County, whose dispatch center lost multiple staff at once, and the county approved a 12‑month pilot purchase of CommsCoach, an artificial‑intelligence quality‑assurance tool, at a discounted pilot price.
Emergency Services Director Kevin Carley briefed commissioners on both items. The training plan calls for Mead County dispatchers to come to Pennington County for one week of basic 911 call‑taking and for Pennington County’s training supervisor to spend a second week in Mead County providing on‑site instruction in their computer‑aided dispatch and radio systems. The developer of the training arrangement will reimburse the county $25,100 for trainer wages and travel.
Carley also described CommsCoach, which automates call selection and initial screening for the center’s quality assurance staff. The product pulls call and radio data, screens for incidents where protocols may not have been followed, identifies patterns, and flags calls for human review. Carley told the board the product would let the QA team spend more time on training rather than manually pulling and listening to calls, and that the vendor offered an annual pilot price of $26,000 (their usual annual price is $72,000). User board members had reviewed the product and recommended purchase.
Commissioners praised the dispatch team and supported both the interagency training and the product purchase. Commissioner comments noted the potential for improved retention and training and acknowledged the rapid pace of change in AI technologies. The board approved the 12‑month contract by motion; staff will implement the pilot, load county protocols and report back to the user board and commission on outcomes.
Ending: The board asked for periodic updates on the pilot’s performance and asked staff to document post‑pilot decisions about continuing, expanding or changing the QA approach.
