Kitsap 911 adds AI non-emergency line

Published 1:30 am Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Kitsap 911 and Aurelian, the technology platform built exclusively for emergency communications centers, announced May 18 that it has deployed Ava, Aurelian’s virtual assistant, on a new dedicated non-emergency line for Kitsap County.

The public can now call 360-328-7711 for routine, non-emergency public safety matters. The deployment marks the first time the county’s approximately 278,000 residents have a dedicated non-emergency contact option, a news release says.

Previously, all calls were routed directly to 911 regardless of urgency, from true emergencies to routine matters such as noise complaints. The new non-emergency line, powered by Ava, provides residents with a direct channel for routine requests while giving telecommunicators greater capacity to focus on critical calls, per the release.

Alongside the technology deployment, Kitsap 911 has launched a community education initiative to help residents understand the new non-emergency line and when to use it.

The non-emergency line should be used for situations that do not require immediate police, fire, or medical response, including noise complaints, parking concerns, suspicious circumstances, abandoned vehicles, crimes that are not currently in progress, or incidents that occurred earlier and are being reported after the fact, such as thefts, vandalism, or property damage, the release says. Residents can also use the line for general information and community resources. Emergencies or situations involving an immediate threat to life, safety, or property should still be reported to 911.

Ava answers non-emergency calls instantly with zero-second hold times and natural language support in over 35 languages. The virtual assistant collects relevant information through conversation, creates calls for service when police response is needed, routes callers to the appropriate department, or texts them resources. Ava continuously monitors every interaction for signs of an emergency, and if one is detected, the caller is instantly transferred to a human telecommunicator.

“The technology is the easy part. The real work is helping an entire county learn that there’s a better way to get help for the things that aren’t emergencies,” said Max Keenan, CEO and founder of Aurelian. “When you get the education piece right, 911 gets stronger because every call that comes in is a call that actually needs to be there.”

Kitsap 911’s initiative addresses a nationwide challenge: an estimated 60 to 80% of calls to 911 centers are non-emergent, and those calls take 50% longer to process than true emergencies, per the release. Across its partner agencies, Aurelian automates an average of 70% of non-emergency calls.

Aurelian is already live at agencies across Washington State, currently serving approximately 35% of the state’s emergency communications centers.

“This gives our community something we’ve needed for a long time, a fast, easy way to reach us for routine matters in any language, at any time of day,” said Maria Jameson-Owens, executive director of Kitsap 911. “It also helps our telecommunicators dedicate more attention to urgent emergency calls, while giving dispatchers greater ability to concentrate on critical radio communications and supporting first responders in the field.”