Scoop: AI is helping answer San Diego 911 calls

• Axios obtained the contract via a public records request.

How it works: The AI service, provided by Invictus, has several features, including transcribing 911 calls.

• People who call the non-emergency line speak with an AI agent that helps sort the calls, just like when you call your bank or doctor's office, police spokesperson Ashley Nicholes told Axios. The department had already been using automation for non-emergency calls before this AI contract.
• The AI service is able to track dispatchers to ensure they are following protocol, though police say they aren't using that feature right now.
• It also offers "AI insights," which include documenting the calls and prompting dispatchers to ask certain questions, Nicholes said.

The term "AI insights" raises big red flags for Reem Suleiman, a strategist with nonprofit technology watchdog Fight for the Future.

• "You could literally drive a truck through what that means," she told Axios. "That is almost a placeholder to do biometric surveillance, voice recognition, facial recognition, gate recognition, all of those things, because even if it doesn't have the capability now, they could definitely shoehorn it in because of how broad that term is."
• People with uncertain immigration status, for example, might not call 911 for fear of being detected, Suleiman said.

The system is mainly meant to help with the non-emergency calls and to help dispatchers get callers to the correct information more efficiently, Nicholes said.

• "It is not intended to replace dispatchers or human interaction altogether," she said. "Residents will continue to be able to speak to a live dispatcher for both 911 and non-emergency calls."

Context: Other local police departments, including the sheriff's department and Chula Vista, are also using some form of AI-assisted dispatch.

San Diego's contract states Invictus "will not surveil, monitor, obtain, track, analyze, utilize, or collect any caller or individual's data obtained through use of the services, except as necessary to provide the contracted services."

• Invictus may collect data when processing calls, generating transcripts and producing analytics, Nicholes said.

Friction point: Nicholes said that if the police department wanted to use the feature that would flag when a dispatcher makes a mistake, it would first need to consult with the dispatchers' union, the San Diego Municipal Employees Association.

The Invictus features are meant to help dispatchers, "not take over answering calls or anything else dispatchers have been doing for decades," union general manager Michael Zucchet told Axios.

• "As far as we know, that is not even being contemplated by the city or anyone else. If it were, it would be contrary to the city's own stated AI policy and, more importantly, make San Diegans less safe when they need help the most."

Follow the money: The city signed a one-year, $263,434 contract with Invictus Apps, Inc. in July 2025.

• The contract expires at the end of June, and the city has four optional one-year renewals.
• Competitive bidding on the contract was waived.
• If the city renews the contract, it will cost about $600,000 a year.

The intrigue: Invictus was bought last year by Axon, which provides San Diego police with body camera technology.