RSSThe San Diego Police Department’s Communications Division implemented NICE Inform Elite to automate performance metrics tracking, quality assurance reviews and incident reconstruction.
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As a result of digitally transforming how data is managed, the agency is improving services to citizens and partner agencies while optimizing dispatch resources and eliminating evidence request overtime and backlogs.
The San Diego Police Department’s Communications Division is the public-safety answering point (PSAP) for all police, fire and EMS calls for San Diego, the eighth-largest city in the U.S. In 2021, the center handled nearly 1.4 million calls for service, including approximately 621,000 emergency calls and 9-1-1 texts.
“Essentially, our division is the nerve center of the San Diego Police Department,” said Roxanne Cahill, police dispatch administrator for the San Diego Police Department Communications Center. “We are the first contact citizens have when requesting help. Additionally, since we capture every communication, we also perform the vital work of fulfilling 9-1-1 evidence requests for investigations and court. NICE is helping us provide better service to everyone we support from citizens to justice partners. Using NICE Inform Elite, we’ve stepped up our 9-1-1 quality assurance and performance metrics tracking to provide better service to callers, while speeding the delivery of 911 audio reproductions, and eliminating related overtime and backlogs.”
Specifically, the San Diego Police Department’s Communications Division is utilizing NICE Inform Elite to supplement live monitoring of calls with automated quality assurance (QA) to get more reviews done in less time. Supervisors can also use automated QA to target specific calls for review. For example, this includes high-priority calls that present significant risk of injury or death or calls which took excessively long to enter or dispatch.
“Quality assurance is essential for effective dispatcher coaching, training and mentoring,” said Cahill. “NICE Inform Elite helps us identify small problems before they become big issues, and answer questions around not just what happened but why things happened as they did. It ensures we're performing our duties as efficiently as possible, without sacrificing customer service.”
As a single system of record for 9-1-1 center data, NICE Inform Elite also features intelligent dashboards with dozens of real-time metrics that provide instant visibility into what's performing and what isn’t. San Diego Police Department Communications Division supervisors now have a real-time view of the volumes and types of calls being handled, and the speed at which calls are being answered, and can immediately see how individual dispatchers are performing. Using dashboard metrics, the center can also make on-the-spot staffing adjustments as needed.
“If it’s taking too long to answer calls, our supervisors and available radio dispatchers will help with taking calls,” said Cahill. “If we need to adjust the ratio of dispatchers answering 9-1-1 versus non-emergency calls, we'll do that as well.”
Additionally, the San Diego Police Department’s Communications Division receives thousands of requests for audio evidence from city attorneys, district attorneys, and child welfare services annually. NICE Inform Elite automates this process as well. Whereas previously it could take up to four hours to reproduce audio evidence for homicide investigations, it now takes an hour or less. Backlogs and overtime have also been eliminated.
“We appreciate the trust the City of San Diego Police Department Communication Division has placed in NICE to assist them in their progressive efforts in all of these areas,” said NICE Executive Vice President Chris Wooten. “From aiding callers in their worst moments to supporting partner agencies in investigations and prosecutions, the mission critical work of 9-1-1 relies on data. Our automated solutions seamlessly connect data across different systems and eliminate manual processes, so public-safety agencies can leverage data to the fullest and get to the truth faster.”
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