Halton police Chief Stephen J. Tanner has recommended keeping SARA, the AI system that answers the service's non-emergency line, for three more years without putting the work out to bid. In a report for the Halton Police Board, the civilian body that oversees the service, Tanner proposed a limited tendering contract, a direct award with no open competition, to Motorola Solutions, which bought SARA's developer, Hyper. The renewal would run from Jan. 1, 2027, to Dec. 31, 2029, at no more than $299,327 including net tax. The first year's subscription is listed at $98,050.
Short for Smart Answering Routing Assistant, the system picks up and sorts calls to the non-emergency line Burlington residents share with the rest of Halton, handling about 10 call types. From Jan. 1 to Oct. 1, it answered more than 95,000 calls across the region and spent 1,195 hours talking with residents, police say. It kept more than 10,000 calls away from communications staff, transferred 271 to the Ontario Provincial Police and sent more than 2,470 texts pointing callers to websites or the collision reporting centre.
The service says the AI works alongside trained call takers rather than replacing them, and has cut 911 wait times by almost 2 seconds a call. Dropping it could affect response times to 911 emergencies, police warn. The communications unit had 52 staff at the end of the third quarter, eight short of its 60 authorized positions.
The report was dated for the board's Thursday, Oct. 29 meeting. The proposed contract leaves room for up to 185,000 calls a year. When SARA launched, police said their communicators fielded about 160,000 non-emergency calls a year.
