Agentforce handles routine inquiries, recommends next steps, and detects high-risk situations quickly — so operators can focus on time-critical calls.
Every day, Thames Valley Police (TVP) and Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary (HIOWC) protect communities — preventing crime, reducing disorder, and bringing offenders to justice.
When community members need their help, they can either call 999 for emergencies or 101 for help with nonurgent matters. Across both forces, the 101 line received over 800,000 calls per year, with nearly half related to unresolved issues — including 20% that were requests for updates on active cases. When demand was at its highest, the average wait time could extend beyond 24 minutes, and handling this steady volume of calls pulled staff focus from more urgent emergency cases.
Cutting wait times to four minutes through traditional hiring would have required 33 new staff and cost £8 million a year. For TVP and HIOWC, providing people with quick answers to nonemergency questions was essential.
To make answering questions simpler and ease pressure on 101 lines, TVP and HIOWC introduced Bobbi — a public-facing AI agent built with Agentforce — alongside their comprehensive, self-serve Citizen Portal and enhanced messaging capabilities. Together, these tools help streamline nonurgent enquiries, with Bobbi serving as a friendly, 24/7 first point of contact for people seeking support.
When someone starts a chat on the website or in the Citizen Portal, Bobbi collects their name, email, phone number, and issue description. They can respond in natural language, and Bobbi instantly provides answers that are professional, empathetic, and under 350 words for easy reading. If Bobbi can’t answer a question, the chat routes automatically to an operator.
If someone wants to report a nonemergency issue like a noise complaint or parking violation, they no longer have to wait on hold. While these matters aren’t typically handled by the police, Bobbi helps by explaining the legality of the situation and directing users to the appropriate webpage to file a report. Looking ahead, citizens will be able to submit reports directly in chat, for an even faster, more seamless process.
For more serious incidents, like car break-ins, Bobbi shifts from simple answers to step-by-step guidance detailing exactly what to do — from reporting to preserving evidence and understanding what to expect from police. If they ask follow-up questions, Bobbi provides practical advice, like how to secure their vehicle.
The result is clear, actionable support that helps people handle the situation confidently and improve their chances of a better outcome.
Though designed for nonemergencies, Bobbi has also helped surface dangerous situations that might have never reached police otherwise. In one case, a 16-year-old used live chat to quietly report a threatening argument between his parents, allowing operators to dispatch officers without dialing 999. In another, a woman in Nigeria flagged threats from an ex-partner in Hampshire — a call that likely would’ve never been made without live chat. Bobbi also identifies around two potential Violence Against Women and Girls cases daily, routing them to trained operators.
Although Bobbi can’t handle every inquiry, it was built to recognize when a case needs a human touch — and hand it off instantly. Bobbi is configured to assess each incoming message, detecting keywords and natural language signals of vulnerability, drawing on articles spanning serious offenses like domestic abuse, sexual violence, and honor-based abuse.
“Every single day, we’ve seen Bobbi correctly identify at least one high-risk situation and get it routed to someone who’s trained to help,” said Tom Boyd, Digital Product Manager.
If Bobbi detects signals that could potentially indicate a harmful situation, Bobbi immediately creates a new case in Agentforce Service and flags it for staff with a yellow warning sign. It then offers the person an instant handoff to a trained operator via live web chat — giving them 999-level support without requiring them to pick up the phone.
When an operator joins the chat, they can see the full transcript, detected risk indicators, a summary of the conversation so far, and suggested next steps in their service console. This helps them jump into action quickly without asking the person to repeat what they’ve already shared.
Behind the scenes, Bobbi runs on a trusted data foundation that ensures every response is accurate and grounded in TVP and HIOWC-approved information. To answer questions, Bobbi pulls from 91 knowledge articles stored in Data 360 and indexed in a vector database, allowing it to grasp the meaning behind any question and instantly retrieve the most relevant guidance. These articles cover topics ranging from parking issues and identity fraud to stalking, victim support, and wildlife crime.
“We’re in control with Bobbi,” said Louise Castle, Operational Duty Manager. “We can update the articles, add and remove information, and keep everything relevant, which is rare in police systems. That kind of information is usually nationally controlled.”
When signals of vulnerability appear, Bobbi shifts to an empathetic tone, offering reassurance, access to confidential help, and legal resources like Clare’s Law, which was created to protect people from domestic violence. From there, Bobbi initiates a seamless live chat transfer.
The handoff automatically passes the full transcript, user metadata including IP address, and a conversation summary directly to the operator’s service console so victims don’t have to repeat themselves.
In the console, operators have a variety of technical tools at their fingertips. They can collaborate with senior representatives in real time, use pre-approved responses to manage multiple chats more easily, and track read receipts to monitor engagement and assess safety. They can log resolution codes and capture full chat records, while relying on built-in controls and safeguards that maintain transparency and escalate critical cases appropriately.
“We wanted to use technology for lower-risk inquiries so humans can focus on high-harm situations where human touch matters most,” said Boyd.
Built in eight weeks in November 2025, Bobbi is the first Agentforce deployment in police history, handling over 200 conversations daily, resolving 75% independently, and reducing cost per interaction by 97%. Looking ahead, TVP and HIOWC anticipate a 900% ROI ratio and 19,000 staff hours reclaimed.
For community members, Bobbi’s instant guidance makes a tangible difference too. With a 4.6 CSAT score and 93% positive feedback rate, Bobbi has even received handwritten thank-you notes.
The remaining 7% of feedback highlighted Bobbi’s knowledge gaps — which the team resolved in minutes by adding new articles to the knowledge base.
“The technology is a win-win,” said Castle. “It brings us to where the public expects us to be.”
Agentforce Agent Builder tools helped TVP and HIOWC move quickly from idea to deployment, enabling teams to safely design, test, and launch agents faster. “Agentforce is straightforward and low-code,” explained Rob Brind, Superintendent and Head of Operational Delivery for Contact Management. “We’re able to use it internally without the detailed development and testing work we were so used to.”
With team members who had policing experience, the Salesforce team deeply grasped the challenges TVP and HIOWC faced. “Salesforce came in to understand the problem,” said Boyd. “They understood what we needed — it made a world of difference.”
Operating in a highly regulated environment with sensitive data, trust and privacy were critical to Bobbi’s success. With Salesforce, TVP and HIOWC built the agent defensively so it only draws from approved Data 360 knowledge articles — not the open internet — ensuring all interactions remain secure and controlled.
A comprehensive citizen portal powered by MuleSoft and Agentforce Experience enables case updates and messaging capabilities — informing victims at every step.
See how the two forces are using Agentforce and an integrated portal to serve members of the public faster, provide updates, and make reporting crimes easier.
Two of England’s largest police forces, TVP and HIOWC serve over 4 million people across 3,800 square miles, responding to emergencies and investigating crime.
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