Friday, March 3, 2023

APD Launches New Non-Emergency Reporting System

The Austin Police Department (APD) has partnered with Versaterm Public Safety’s Case Service to launch a new non-emergency online reporting system via ireportaustin.com. Case Service is an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant that instantly communicates with community members through voice, mobile, web, and text. The AI assistant conducts a full interview with the person filing a report and provides key information to the police department. This system allows the report to be accepted into the official offense report database within hours or a similar time frame as if an officer wrote the report. This platform reduces wait times for community members and speeds up the investigation process.

 
To file a report online, the following guidelines must be met:
•    No immediate danger to people or property
•    The suspect is no longer on-scene
•    The reporting party must be 17 years old or older and have a valid email address
 
The online system accepts the following report types: 
•    Assault (minor or no injury, excluding domestic violence)
•    Threats (excluding domestic violence)
•    Burglary that does not involve fire/arson
•    Theft (excluding prescriptions, firearms, explosives, vehicle license plates, and motor vehicles of any kind)
•    Lost or missing property (excluding narcotic prescription medication, vehicle license plates, and firearms)
•    Damaged property or Graffiti
•    Fraud
•    Harassment
•    Counterfeiting or Forgery
•    Identity theft
•    Illegal use of a credit or debit card
•    Minor, non-criminal child custody issues for documentation only
•    Trespassing (suspect no longer on scene)
•    Shoplifting reports
 
Once a report is submitted, the individual who submitted the report will receive confirmation via email with the assigned case number. If a supplement needs to be added later, community members can create a new report and provide the original case number when prompted.
 
The new reporting system supports multiple languages, including English, Arabic, French, Hindi, Korean, Simplified, and Traditional Chinese, Spanish, and Vietnamese, among other languages.
 
We are confident this technology will streamline the reporting process, alleviate the current backlog for APD non-emergency requests submitted via 3-1-1, and provide community members personalized attention to their incidents. Upon successful deployment of this first phase, APD plans to expand the use of Case Service further.