Speech analytics is one of the fastest growing technologies for contact centers, but it also has important uses for public safety answering points (PSAPs). Speech analytics software converts conversations and audio into data that can easily be searched and analyzed. Once the recorded conversations are converted into indexed, searchable data, they can be taken apart to reveal keywords, tone of voice, and patterns that develop during calls. Spotting trends in calls is important to public safety officials because of the high volume of 911 calls and other conversations that transpire each day.

Identifying Trends
This isn’t just identifying keywords, however. Predetermining words like gang names, neighborhoods, and streets and entering them into the database can help officers spot trends and gain new insight into their investigations. And these trends often serve as precursors to incidents, meaning public safety agencies can be better prepared or even take preventative action.

A Pennsylvania PSAP used speech analytics to help end an investigation into a series of porch fire arson incidents. They compiled a list of the addresses that had already been affected, and then used speech analytics to identify similar incidents that weren’t already on their list of addresses. Analyzing the data helped them to bring about a quicker end to the investigation.

And that’s the power of speech analytics—it allows public safety officials to look at the audio data they collect as a helpful tool for investigating and solving cases.

Improving Call Response
Without speech analytics, reviewing enough calls to identify performance trends and challenges is a manual task that takes an overwhelming amount of time and effort. 911 contact centers may not be the same as business contact centers, but they still face some of the same issues and challenges.

Speech analytics can find situations in which a call taker handled a response well, and use that to help guide and train other employees, creating best practice policies. On the other hand, the software can be used to find calls where a problem arose, and place them together in the same category. Administrators can then go through these calls to find out what exactly could have been done to help bring about a better result.

911 callers are often quite agitated or panicked, and they aren’t going to have time to discuss a previous problem or identify an issue while they’re on the phone with a call taker. Speech analytics allows PSAPs to dig through the massive amounts of data gathered by these conversations, and spot trends, keywords, and other helpful information that would otherwise be glossed over or missed.

If your PSAP is in need of speech analytics or any other type of software, take a look at KOVA’s Verint Media Recorder for Public Safety. This public safety software solution includes a wide range of features: performance management, quality assurance, speech analytics, incident investigation and analytics, workload forecasting and staff scheduling, staff coaching and training, and citizen surveys. Contact KOVA today!