Why 911 Call Transcription is Critical for Law Enforcement

This blog explores the critical importance of 911 call transcription in criminal cases, focusing on its role in law enforcement. It discusses challenges such as inaudible calls, the need for accurate transcription, and security concerns, followed by how VIDIZMO Digital Evidence Management System (DEMS) provides an effective solution for automating and securing 911 call transcription.

Our dedicated law enforcement departments spend a massive amount of time working in emergency response systems, such as by attending 911 calls and aiding people in emergencies. They try to provide immediate support to handle the situation efficiently for a better outcome.

When an individual calls 911, the call is routed towards the PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point). The call operators at PSAP are trained as dispatchers in a way that they must be able to uncover the emergency by asking relevant questions to understand the scenario.

911 calls themselves play an essential role, but the accurate transcriptions of these calls also carry a lot of importance in law enforcement agencies and other government organizations. The 911 call transcription benefits are plentiful. It allows a law enforcement body to analyze better the exact situation of the crime scene and victim detail, which plays a significant role in solving the case.

911 Calls Transcription Used As Confidential Data

The data that the witness or victim provides to the call operator is often confidential and considered digital evidence. There is a need to keep the digital evidence safe and secure because false accusations and corrupted data can risk the life of the victim and witness. Therefore, the maintenance of confidential digital evidence is vital.

A proper system is needed, which can help to convert speech-to-text, maintain the file's integrity as evidence, and keep all the data safe and secure in the desired manner.

"VIDIZMO DEMS is specially designed to help you manage digital evidence into your system."

What Are The Challenges 911 Call Departments Face?

Calls Are Often Inaudible And Unintelligible

It usually happens that whenever the victim or witness calls 911 in a panicked situation, their voice must be shaky, and they are not able to speak properly. Or voice can be muffled even due to network disruption, resulting in respondents finding it hard to listen to and understand. The voice is almost inaudible and unintelligible.

It is tough to understand and analyze what the caller wants to say regarding the problem they are looking for help with.

Source: nena.org

Victims Refuse To Testify

In certain cases in the past, the victim refused to come to court to testify.

A good example is the case of Davis v. Washington, 547 U.S. 813 (2006). Thus, the entire case becomes dependent upon the call discussion, which was initially held with the victim, and the whole decision had to be taken based on the victim's on-call statement.

Challenge To Present Call Recording As Evidence

Due to several factors, the audio may be difficult or impossible to hear on first listen.

Identity could be a contentious topic. It could be challenging to hear what is being said due to background noise.

There can even be multiple speakers at once. If there is more than one conversant talking, they can have a significant accent that could be difficult to understand.

Including terminology, jargon, or code by the conversant could create the inability to understand what was being said.

These factors make the recording seem unrealistic when the evidence is presented to authorities or law enforcement agencies. It ignores or fails to address the difficulties of appropriately using a recorded as evidence.

It becomes quite challenging to prove its legitimacy when it comes to displaying its authenticity.

911 Call Transcript Manually

The calls which are transcribed manually create a lot more burden on the 911 dispatcher because the person is already assisting the caller. Along with it, he/she must transcribe the individual's audio into manual text form along with covering each detail whatever the caller is putting forward.

Protection Of 911 Call Transcription

In the Trayvon Martin case of 2012, a well-known broadcast company NBC tampered 911 call transcript to make the assailant, George Zimmerman, sound racist. Protecting the original 911 call transcription matters a lot in every circumstance.

Need Of Call Transcriptions As Evidence

In 2006, the Supreme Court allowed the use of 911 calls as evidence. This declaration was made because certain victims did not testify in court, and the defendant got convicted due to their on-call statement. A transcript of the recording should be given to the jury if you plan to introduce it as evidence.

The transcript helps to understand better the recorded call audio. To record every detail of the cases, it is necessary to transcribe the calls so they can be used as evidence against the defendant and the court can come to a fair conclusion.

Looking For A Solution?

After reviewing all these challenges, it has been noticed that a solution is required which can help in:

• Automatically transcribe 911 calls in your system.
• Translated the calls into multiple languages.
• Maintain data in a secure place.
• Keep the evidence safe from external modification.
• Limit the access of unauthorized people.
• Maintain the Chain of Custody of the entire case from scratch.

VIDIZMO DEMS – The Ideal Solution!

VIDIZMO DEMS helps you to ingest, upload, manage, and maintain your entire digital evidence without any hassle. Now you can automate the transcription process of audio and video evidence and keep this digital evidence safe. VIDIZMO Digital Evidence Management System (DEMS) is an IDC MarketScape 2020 recognized solution that provides you with public safety and evidence management at the highest level.

• Through VIDIZMO's automatic transcription & translation feature, speech to text can be done in 12 different languages and translated into up to 50 languages. Automated transcription can be generated from any video or audio format, whether from call recording, body cam, dashcam, CCTV footage etc. VIDIZMO DEMS provides you with the highest level of security for your digital evidence.
• VIDIZMO DEMS fulfills the legal compliances sets by GDPR, FedRAMP, CJIS, CRoC, HIPAA, FOIA, ITAR, EAR, and others.
• VIDIZMO DEMS incorporates the SHA-3 hash code for tamper detection to defend against tampering with system files. The system can identify files tampered with by comparing the • VIDIZMO also offers a redaction tool in its product, DEMS and EnterpriseTube. Auto redaction and manual redaction can be done quickly with just one touch. allocated hash value to the value it had at the upload time.
• VIDIZMO DEMS provides a feature of Evidence Security while the evidence is in the state of rest, transit, and in use.
  
• VIDIZMO also offers a redaction tool in its product, DEMS and EnterpriseTube. Auto redaction and manual redaction can be done quickly with just one touch.
• VIDIZMO also offers a redaction tool in its product, DEMS and EnterpriseTube. Auto redaction and manual redaction can be done quickly with just one touch.
• VIDIZMO also offers multi-tenancy in which you can create multiple portals within the same system to separate the user roles and make it easy to access an individual to their particular portal.

But wait! There is more! VIDIZMO offers a lot of various features. Wants to explore more about VIDIZMO? Get started with your Free Trial today!

Key Takeaways

• Significance of Transcription: 911 call transcriptions are crucial for evidence integrity in criminal cases, as they allow law enforcement to analyze critical information from callers.

• Challenges: Issues such as inaudible calls, victim refusal to testify, and the difficulty in using untranscribed call recordings as evidence complicate the criminal justice process.

• VIDIZMO DEMS: Offers automated transcription in multiple languages, ensuring the integrity and security of digital evidence with features like tamper detection, redaction, and compliance with legal regulations.

• Data Security: The system ensures the safety of sensitive information, protecting against unauthorized access and tampering, with features like encryption and hash-based tamper detection.

• Multilingual Support: VIDIZMO’s transcription and translation capabilities support 12 languages for transcription and up to 50 languages for translation, making it adaptable to diverse cases.

People Also Ask

Why is 911 call transcription important?

911 call transcription is crucial because it ensures that the information provided by the caller is accurately recorded, stored, and available for analysis in criminal cases, thereby supporting justice.

How does VIDIZMO help with 911 call transcription?

VIDIZMO provides automated transcription and translation for 911 calls, supporting 12 languages for transcription and 50 for translation, ensuring accurate, timely, and secure handling of digital evidence.

What challenges do law enforcement agencies face with 911 call recordings?

Challenges include inaudible or unintelligible recordings, difficulties in using recordings as evidence due to background noise, and victims refusing to testify, making transcriptions vital for case analysis.

How does VIDIZMO secure 911 call recordings?

VIDIZMO ensures security through end-to-end encryption, tamper detection using SHA-3 hash, and automatic redaction tools to protect sensitive information and maintain evidence integrity.

What is the role of chain of custody in 911 call recordings?

The chain of custody ensures the integrity and authenticity of 911 call recordings by tracking who accessed the evidence, when, and how, preventing tampering or unauthorized changes.