Motorola Solutions looks to boost public safety with expanded Assist AI

Aiming to improve the working lives of emergency personnel facing overwhelming influx of data under immense stress, Motorola Solutions has globally expanded its Assist mission-critical AI product designed for public safety.

With an initial focus on Europe, the expansion follows “successful deployments of the product” across US public safety agencies, with the company saying the capability is scaling internationally to bring role-specific intelligence to control room operators, emergency responders and investigators, fundamentally accelerating responses.

For control room operators, Assist layers intelligent capabilities directly into the core Motorola Solutions’ control room software to help accelerate emergency response. It automatically identifies, gathers and prioritises vital call information – such as historical incident data at a specific location or critical keywords such as “heart attack”.

In a bid to minimise miscommunication and preserve operator focus, Assist supports live transcription to enhance clarity by allowing operators and supervisors to reference earlier interactions, note critical info and capture evidence; call translation to bridge language barriers between operators and callers that can “otherwise add an average of 70 seconds” to an emergency call; and advanced audio enhancement to filter out background noise so operators can hear clearly.

There is also a non-emergency call agent that automatically handles routine calls – which can consume up to 65% of call handlers’ workloads – to allow human operators to focus on critical emergencies.

Assisting responders in the field, in particular for officers on the beat, Assist presents a mobile-first digital force multiplier at the edge to help enhance productivity, situational awareness and safety.

Among the key field capabilities are accelerated search via a field-based app that scans number plates for faster entry and faster identification via appearance search to match images and videos to photos or text descriptions. Voice-based interaction is intended to allow first responders to remain focused and hands-free by using their voice to initiate commands in-vehicle while driving.

The platform also offers technology designed to streamline digital investigations for investigators handling large volumes of evidence. Redaction Assist leverages automated object and speaker tracking within the evidence management workflow, automatically tagging evidence and redacting sensitive subjects and objects to accelerate records documentation and to support privacy. Looking to offer proof of the component’s utility, Motorola reported that a US-based agency said the tool dropped its video redaction times from 35 hours down to one hour.

“A call taker is the most important piece of the puzzle when it comes to emergencies,” said Casey Allo, chief of emergency communications for Lee County, Florida, a US-based agency using Assist. “Having real-time transcription of the call in front of the call taker, having it translate word for word what the caller is saying, and having it point out keywords you want to flag all point to being more efficient and giving call takers more confidence.”

As it continues to expand Assist across its safety and security ecosystem, Motorola Solutions offered assurance that it remained committed to the transparent and responsible deployment of AI, with an Assist emblem indicating when information has been surfaced by AI, so human operators can evaluate and verify the data.

In addition, responsible AI product labels detail the type of AI utilised, data ownership, human control mechanisms and the specific purpose of the application for operational transparency.

Commenting on the expansion and its aims, Fergus Mayne, vice-president of sales for Europe at Motorola Solutions, said: “By automating routine tasks and surfacing vital insights in real time, Assist cuts through the noise. It reduces the immense cognitive load on front-line teams, empowering them to respond to critical incidents with greater clarity, speed and confidence.”