Artificial intelligence supporting emergency management in public safety
European Emergency Number Association
The vast potential of AI is starting to be unleashed in many walks of life and the public safety domain is no exception. Image and text analysis, speech recognition, chatbot interactions, and machine learning models all have applications for public safety and security organizations.
First, AI in the form of robotic process automation can be used to complete repetitive tasks and free humans up for higher-value work, just as it has in other sectors. AI can also be used to process vast amounts of data, finding patterns and new information that might otherwise have remained unseen; this can help, for example, in video and voice recognition. In addition, the rapid growth of the Internet of Things (IoT) is now creating opportunities to integrate sensors into Public Safety Answering Points which, when coupled with analytics at the edge (within the device itself), can increase the visibility and understanding — the situational awareness — of what is happening on the ground.
So, which public safety domains are exploring the benefits of AI and what are the different applications?
Enabling and supporting firefighters
In Catalonia, Spain, an award-winning AI-based platform has been developed to monitor and act on data about firefighter health and safety both in real-time and over the long term; this solution will soon be tested with firefighters. Elsewhere, AI can be used for more effective, and predictive, management of vital operational asses such as firefighting equipment and protective clothing by predicting demand and providing rich data that can be analyzed to inform future asset procurement and maintenance.
AI-enabled technology can also assist with early fire detection and decision support, for example using visual recognition AI from surveillance cameras and other data sources to detect fires in forests, natural parks and even mining areas and industrial facilities. In fact, AI has an important role to play in identifying, prioritizing and mitigating all kinds of crises and disasters, from storms, floods, and earthquakes to drought, extreme heat, epidemics and wildfires.
Medical emergencies and law enforcement
In the clinical domain, AI can now be used by emergency medical services to diagnose injuries in real time; let’s take a car crash as an example. With data available from the car about the exact duration and type of impacts to passengers, this could be transmitted and translated into a medical report in real time, which could, in turn, be sent automatically to emergency medical services to dispatch an informed and appropriate response.
In law enforcement, video surveillance is much more effective at detecting and preventing crime using AI-enabled human and object detection and tracking combined with a knowledge base and behavior analysis, especially in situations involving crowds, abandoned objects, searches for persons of interest, and so on. Both London’s Metropolitan Police Service and the South Wales Police have tested the use of automated facial recognition technology at public events such as concerts, festivals and soccer matches.
An ethical framework
Use of automated facial recognition has been the subject of some debate about threat to people’s privacy and right of association; this is one in a number of areas of public concern, such as people’s loss of autonomy or lack of clarity about how algorithms are programmed and used. It is, therefore, critical to design guidance to ensure trustworthy and fair use of AI. A robust ethical framework and laws are required to ensure that algorithms are deployed in a transparent and explainable way and are never biased against gender, racial or social status.
Let’s not forget that while AI is a valuable tool, the autonomy of people must always prevail over the technology. AI is there to augment, not completely replace, human decision-making and the “super-system administrator” must be a human being. At the dawn of this new technological era, there are many exciting applications for AI in public safety. Through innovation and collaboration — between public safety organizations, technology partners, lawmakers and others — these capabilities have the power to help make our world a safer place for all.
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