Google Home Breaks Up Domestic Dispute by Calling the Police

While I'm happy this was a (reasonably) positive outcome, my concern is that a family is watching an action movie or police procedural, a character on TV says "call 911" or "call the cops!", and suddenly a SWAT team is breaking down the door and pointing guns at everyone, maybe even shooting the family dog who rightfully barks at the intruders.

<p><pre><code> Google Home called 911 and the operator heard a confrontation in the background </code></pre> I wasn&#x27;t aware that it was legal for any unattended device to directly call 911 by itself in any USA jurisdiction. That&#x27;s why alarm companies have human operators that discern whether local 911 is to be called.

<i>Correction: ABC News has amended and editor’s note to its story clarifying that the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department did not specify the type of smart device that called them to the home. An earlier version of this post cited ABC’s story and claimed a Google Home called police.</i><p>They were house sitting. It&#x27;s not a stretch to think that homeowners had other smart devices to listen in and see what&#x27;s going on remotely, and call police if necessary. Nest cam possibly? It works with Google Home.<p>Also, there was a daughter (no mention of age) who may have been able to trigger an alarm system or call herself (though a traditional call negates the &quot;smart device&quot; claim by the sheriff&#x27;s department).<p>I&#x27;m concerned if smart devices will start intervening with human arguments. When they&#x27;re necessary, it&#x27;s indeed a lifesaver. When they&#x27;re not it can really break up otherwise healthy homes and cause a lot of stress.

The numbers around domestic violence are staggering:<p><a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ncadv.org&#x2F;learn-more&#x2F;statistics" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;ncadv.org&#x2F;learn-more&#x2F;statistics</a><p>It&#x27;s also a notorious blind spot for law enforcement – even when restraining orders are issued, they&#x27;re nearly unenforceable, and once the aggressor is in your house you&#x27;re a sitting duck.<p>Ambient audio-UI devices could be the biggest technological break ever in monitoring for the presence and emotional state of the subject of a restraining order. It&#x27;s not obvious like a security camera or alarm system, and opt-in to a monitoring app would be invisible.