Portage County launches AI system to handle non-emergency calls
By Brandi Makuski
PORTAGE COUNTY — The Portage County Sheriff’s Office has launched a new artificial intelligence system designed to handle non-emergency calls, a move Sheriff Mike Lukas says will help dispatchers focus on emergencies while addressing staffing shortages and burnout.
The system, known as Aurelian, was recently implemented at the county’s communications center, commonly known as dispatch. In 2025, dispatch received more than 103,500 telephone calls, including more than 88,000 classified as non-emergency.
“The system is expected to relieve some of the workload of the Communications Technicians so they can more easily handle the emergencies,” Lukas said.
Staffing shortages, increased stress levels and burnout have become common challenges for dispatch centers across the country, Lukas said. The sheriff’s office adopted the technology as a proactive measure to help manage those concerns.
Aurelian uses artificial intelligence customized to follow dispatch’s existing policies and procedures. The system can route callers to appropriate departments, offices and voicemail boxes, provide information and phone numbers, and assist callers through voice recognition or text messaging.
Most non-emergency calls bypass dispatch unless the system identifies a situation requiring staff involvement. Lukas said callers reporting non-emergency incidents that require a law enforcement response can interact with the AI system much as they would a dispatcher. The information gathered is then reviewed by a trained communications technician before being dispatched as time permits.
By automating routine requests, Lukas said dispatchers can focus more attention on emergency calls and radio traffic while monitoring more than 20 radio channels used by law enforcement, fire and EMS agencies throughout the county.
Communications Center Manager Stephanie Laug said the system does not affect 911 calls.
“Nine-one-one calls are not affected at all,” Laug said.
Instead, the system answers public-facing non-emergency phone numbers, including those used by the sheriff’s office and Stevens Point Police Department.
Laug described the technology as “kind of like a glorified phone tree,” but said it is highly customizable. One common use involves redirecting callers seeking information about the Portage County Jail.
“We get a lot of jail calls because, for some reason, the 1400 line is the number that’s published on Google for the jail,” Laug said. “When people call and they’re like, ‘I need to speak with the jail,’ she just transfers them to the jail.”
The system can also provide information about services such as medication drop-off locations and other frequently requested information.
“For the last how many years, the comm center has kind of been the switchboard for the whole county,” Laug said. “We get a lot of calls that we always say we’re Google in here.”
Laug said routine calls can pull dispatchers away from emergency calls and radio traffic.
“There are times where those non-emergent phone calls, where we’re just providing information that you can find online, take us away from the radio traffic or real emergency or a 911,” she said. “That was the gist of why it was implemented.”
The department began testing the system several months ago and has been using it live for about a month, according to Laug.
The implementation has raised questions among some municipal employees and public works personnel who regularly contact dispatch. Laug said the department has worked to provide direct access when appropriate while still maintaining the purpose of the new system.
“It’s a fine line that we’ve kind of teetered with implementing this,” she said. “Those that we work closely with, that would have the pressing calls, we have gave a direct in when there is the ability of that.”
Lukas said the system includes safeguards to ensure emergencies are immediately routed to live personnel. If Aurelian detects an emergency, a potential emergency or another time-sensitive situation, callers are automatically transferred to dispatch and connected with a communications technician.
If technical issues arise, dispatch supervisors can disable the system and return operations to traditional call handling.
“The supervisors and myself in here have the ability to turn it off,” Laug said.
While acknowledging that some residents may be uncomfortable interacting with artificial intelligence, Lukas encouraged the public to engage with the system as they would with a live dispatcher.
“This helps the system ‘learn’ and helps the Sheriff’s Office evaluate the effectiveness of it,” Lukas said.
Lukas said the department hopes the technology will help better serve residents while reducing workload pressures on dispatch staff and allowing communications technicians to focus on emergencies and critical radio traffic.