AI-driven digital transformation is helping the police improve service in an era where demand is high while resources are scarcer.
Increasing volumes of routine enquiries are also placing additional strain on contact centres, leaving officers and call handlers with less time to support people who need them most.
By 2023 the situation had become particularly challenging for Thames Valley Police and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, with the forces receiving 1.3 million contacts annually. Approximately a third of those interactions were requests for updates, additional services or other enquiries. As a result, some called for non-emergency 101 service were waiting on average 7-8 minutes during peak times.
Why rethinking citizen contact became essential
Tom Kempster, director of digital and innovation at Thames Valley Police and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary, says the scale of the challenge created an opportunity to rethink long-established ways of working.
Protracted waiting times were only one symptom of a system under pressure. The two forces also saw callers abandon the 101 service and switch to 999, creating additional pressure on emergency response channels. Meanwhile, victims were left frustrated, having to recount case details to multiple people, while call handlers spent valuable time dealing with routine enquiries rather than supporting those in greatest need.
Kempster says the objective was never to simply improve waiting times. “We knew we didn’t want to achieve average wait times for the sake of achieving them. These needed to improve of course, but through a better service being provided, not the manipulation of the numbers.” Instead, his team stepped back to ask a more fundamental question: “How do we deliver the service that the public deserves?” That question shaped every stage of the redesign.
The response was to redesign citizen contact, allowing citizens to access information when they needed it instead of relying on repeated calls to the 101 service.
Designing an experience fit for citizens
The forces’ new, secure self-service portal allows citizens to check the progress of their case, identify and communicate directly with investigating officers and access support through the Bobbi AI agent.
Bobbi now handles around 200 routine enquiries daily, from providing crime reference numbers to signposting callers to the right service, resolving around 75% of interactions autonomously. Moreover, victims of serious crime routinely chose to engage with Bobbi, with the agent complying with all relevant guidelines.
Citizens also receive automated updates as their cases progress, and previous interactions are visible to officers and contact handlers, reducing the need for victims to repeat information.
To date, the self-service approach has saved the forces the equivalent of £1.4 million in staff hours saved and reallocated to answer more 999 and 101 calls with reduced waiting times. There has also been a 10% reduction in contact centre demand, and citizen satisfaction has increased by 15%.
Building trust into autonomous service
Behind this citizen-facing service sits an integrated operational platform giving Bobbi access to trusted information within clearly defined operational boundaries. That allows the agent to participate in frontline service delivery while operating within established governance and human oversight.
That operational discipline extends to the AI itself. Kempster says the two forces treat Bobbi like any other member of the contact team. Its interactions are sampled, its performance is reviewed and its knowledge base is continually refined, with managers retaining accountability for how it operates.
For organisations exploring autonomous service, the experience of Thames Valley Police and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary suggests that the starting point is the same question Kempster asked at the outset: “How do we deliver the service that the public deserves?”