Boulder to Put AI on Its Police Non-Emergency Line

Boulder plans to move its non-emergency police line from a keypad menu to a conversational AI assistant after phased testing. ANET will answer all calls to that line, with human transfer available on request.

Non-emergency calls account for about 70% of the communication center’s call volume, so automating intake could free dispatcher attention for more serious incidents. Whether that benefit materializes remains unmeasured in the report.

Boulder Police plans to replace its keypad-based non-emergency phone menu with Axon’s Automated Non-Emergency Triage system, or ANET, at the end of October 2026. The assistant will converse in English and Spanish, collect information and route calls covering issues such as abandoned vehicles, noise complaints and crashes without injuries. Police say roughly 70% of calls to the Boulder Police and Fire Communication Center are not emergencies, making this a substantial intake workload rather than a peripheral use of AI. The intended benefit is to give human dispatchers more time for serious threats, but the article provides no measured performance or staffing outcomes. The system will not answer 911 calls, and callers can request transfer to a human dispatcher. Calls will remain recorded and publicly accessible under existing arrangements; according to a police spokesperson, Axon will not use non-emergency call data to train the assistant.

Evidence supplied by GovTech / Daily Camera.