SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — If you called Crime Check Wednesday afternoon, you might have been surprised to hear an AI voice on the other end.
Spokane Regional Emergency Communications tested its new AI system for two hours, letting artificial intelligence handle Crime Check non-emergency calls instead of human operators.
“I am the non-emergency automated assistant here to help you. How can I help you?” the AI tells callers when asked if it is AI.
The test ran from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday after six weeks of preparation. If results look good, SREC hopes to launch the system by the end of this year.
Here’s why they’re doing it: Crime Check gets over 250,000 calls every year.
But only about half actually need immediate police response. The rest are questions, requests for information, or calls that are sent elsewhere entirely.
“Our goal has always been to provide the highest level of service to the people who call us for help,” said Kim Arredondo, SREC’s deputy director. The AI should help “preserve our 911 lines for life-threatening emergencies.”
But not everyone’s excited about talking to AI.
Shane Thomas calls Crime Check regularly for the storage facility he manages. He’s dealt with abandoned vehicles and other issues.
“It’s been fantastic,” Thomas said about working with human operators in the past.
But he’s worried about the AI takeover.
“I think it’s going to lower the number of reports in the first place, because I think less people are going to call in in the first place and be willing to deal with it,” Thomas said.
His biggest concern? People want to feel heard.
“Some people might be calling and hoping for a response in their community. And if they just get a cold machine, they’re not going to feel like they were heard,” Thomas said.
Veronica Garcia agrees. She thinks human connection matters in these situations.
“There’s a degree of human empathy that you need for the job,” Garcia said.
The AI is supposed to figure out if your call is a real emergency and transfer you to a human operator immediately. But Thomas isn’t convinced that’s enough.
“I would feel a lot better about it if it was a live human handling the triage in the first place before it was routed,” Thomas said.
The system will work in both English and Spanish when it launches fully.
For now, keep calling 911 for emergencies and (509) 456-2233 for Crime Check.
COPYRIGHT 2025 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
