The Santa Maria Police Department is joining the Lompoc Police Department in using an artificial intelligence (AI) system designed to help answer non-emergency calls.
The Santa Maria City Council recently approved a three-year, nearly $305,000 purchase order for Hyper, an AI-powered non-emergency call agent developed by Motorola Solutions.
The company says the technology is designed to help speed up response times and free up dispatchers to focus on more urgent calls.
Santa Maria Police Chief Christopher Williams said at the city council meeting that the technology has reduced the workload at Lompoc’s dispatch and communications center by 66%.
Santa Maria Police Lt. Andy Magallon said the AI will supplement dispatchers rather than replace them. He also said the technology could help address language barriers.
The department received about 180,000 dispatch calls last year.
“This system offers, I believe, up to 18 different languages, so that whenever someone does call to the center, now we have to wait on the line to get a translator so we can actually communicate with them,” Lt. Magallon said.
Before the purchase was approved Aug. 4, Chief Williams told council members the AI system can handle thousands of calls at once.
However, some Santa Maria residents have concerns about relying on artificial intelligence to connect people with the services they need.
“I’ve been on calls where the machine will answer, but it doesn’t really understand what I am trying to reach, and it might send me to the wrong phone number, so then I have to get transferred,” said Santa Maria resident Naomi Navarro. “So I think that could also be a downside to it.”
Other residents said they believe the technology could be beneficial if it is properly programmed and monitored.
“I think using it wisely and programming it properly would be an ideal situation because it would screen a lot of the calls rather than just going through an operator,” said Santa Maria resident Eddie Couch. “I think in that case it would be a good idea, save time and then save manpower.”
Magallon said the department understands the community’s concerns and plans to make adjustments as the system is implemented.
“It’s a working system, so we identify that there’s problems with the system. We can go back in and make adjustments accordingly,” he said.
The Lompoc Police Department began using Hyper in February.
According to Magallon, the Santa Maria Police Department hopes to have the system in place by the end of 2026.
