Empowering 9-1-1 Calltaking Training with Generative AI: Experiences and Lessons Learned

Emergency call-takers form the first operational link in public safety response, handling over 240 million calls annually while facing a sustained training crisis: staffing shortages exceed 25% in many centers, and preparing a single new hire can require up to 720 hours of one-on-one instruction that removes experienced personnel from active duty. Traditional training approaches struggle to scale under these constraints, limiting both coverage and feedback timeliness. In partnership with Metro Nashville Department of Emergency Communications (MNDEC), we designed, developed, and deployed a GenAI-powered call-taking training system under real-world constraints. Over six months, deployment scaled from initial pilot to 190 operational users across 1,120 training sessions, exposing systematic challenges around system delivery, rigor, resilience, and human factors that remain largely invisible in controlled or purely simulated evaluations. By analyzing deployment logs capturing 98,429 user interactions, organizational processes, and stakeholder engagement patterns, we distill four key lessons, each coupled with concrete design and governance practices. These lessons provide grounded guidance for researchers and practitioners seeking to deliver AI-driven training systems in safety-critical public sector environments where practical constraints fundamentally shape human-centric design.