Winter Garden police introduce AI technology to handle nonemergency calls

The Winter Garden Police Department is turning to artificial intelligence to help manage nonemergency calls and reduce wait times for residents.The department recently introduced an AI-powered system called AVA, which will assist with communications serving Winter Garden, Ocoee, Windermere and Oakland.New system aims to reduce wait timesInstead of speaking directly with a dispatcher, callers making nonemergency requests will initially interact with an automated voice system."Rather than talking to one of our dispatchers, you're going to be talking to an automated voice," said Capt. Mike Mason with the Winter Garden Police Department.Mason said the department commissioned the technology in February and has been working toward its implementation for several months."We're pretty excited about it," he said.Technology already in use in Volusia CountyWinter Garden is not the first Florida law enforcement agency to adopt the technology. Volusia County introduced the AI-powered system last yea