Bowling Green OKs $255,000 contract for automated non‑emergency call system amid questions about escalation to 911

The Board of Commissioners voted to authorize a three‑year subscription with Needle Inc., doing business as Aurelian, for an automated non‑emergency call‑handling system at a cost of $85,000 per year (total not to exceed $255,000).

City communications and IT staff described the vendor system as an automated attendant that can handle a significant portion of non‑emergency calls, provide multilingual support (staff said the vendor supports 30+ languages), and route calls to 911 if the system detects emergency indicators such as background yelling or nonsensical answers. Staff described a front‑end implementation plan that includes transcription and a dispatcher monitoring platform so human dispatchers can review interactions in real time and intervene. They also said field visits, including a demonstration in Kalamazoo, Michigan, informed their recommendation.

Commissioners pressed staff on scenarios in which callers disguise emergency requests (for example, a domestic‑violence victim using innocuous phrasing) and on whether rare dialects would be handled; staff replied that the system can detect suspicious patterns and route such calls to a live 911 operator and that it will route callers to an interpreter if a dialect is unrecognized. Commissioners voiced both excitement about reducing non‑emergency workloads and caution about automated systems delaying access to a live person when needed. The purchase was approved by roll call.