Trumbull County 911 director seeks RapidSOS AI modules; commissioners ask about liability and timing

Dee Smith, Trumbull County 911 director, asked commissioners on Nov. 13 to consider buying two paid RapidSOS modules to automate nonemergency call handling and provide live transcription and translation. Smith said the county handles about 225,000 nonemergency calls a year and described a setup that would route nonemergency numbers to an AI bot and escalate calls that include emergency keywords to a live 911 operator.

Smith told commissioners the county would seek eight licenses (enough for the maximum on‑shift staffing) and described per‑seat pricing she received: roughly $1,800 for the nonemergency automation module and $3,900 for the communicator module that provides live transcription and multilingual translation. Smith said the vendor plans a price increase after January and urged the county to lock a five‑year rate now if it wants to avoid higher costs.

Commissioners and other speakers raised concerns about safety and liability if an automated system fails to identify an emergency. One commissioner warned that an elderly or confused caller could be misrouted, saying, "What if someone calls, it's emergency, but it's an elderly person or confused or stroke victim ... And then that person dies and we ever took the call live because the AI didn't ever got the call where it's supposed to go." Smith responded she would contact other counties that have implemented the system, and she said legal review of the sole‑source procurement had been completed.

County officials also discussed procurement timing: the auditor's office said routine purchasing shuts down during a budgetary closure in December but can process emergency payments if needed. Commissioners agreed to postpone a formal decision and to table the RapidSOS agenda items until the next day so staff can confirm vendor liability coverage, reference counties already using the system and verify the final pricing and implementation timeline.

The county also discussed continuing to evaluate the broader 911 system and noted any long‑term platform change would be timed to avoid overlapping contracts. The item was left for follow‑up; commissioners did not take a final vote on the RapidSOS purchase during the meeting.