West Yorkshire Police and the NPCC Digital Public Contact Programme Launch AI Capability to Unlock Intelligence from Control Room Calls
West Yorkshire Police, working in partnership with the NPCC Digital Public Contact (DPC) programme, has become the first force in England and Wales to go live with a new artificial intelligence capability designed to extract insight from historic control room calls.
The capability, known as Post Call Analysis (PCA), is being deployed at West Yorkshire Police following a period of pilot activity. It has been developed jointly by the team at West Yorkshire Police and DPC working with the NPCC Public Contact portfolio team, with DPC providing the national enabling framework to support local delivery.
Police control rooms receive very high volumes of contact, but much of the detail from these calls is not consistently captured in force systems. Although all calls are audio recorded, the information entered into CAD or equivalent systems often depends on operator notes rather than the full content of the conversation. This limits the ability to analyse demand, spot emerging trends, and connect intelligence across incidents – while also adding pressure to already busy control room staff.
PCA has been introduced as a secure, modular capability that integrates with existing control room processes. It automates routine tasks such as transcription and categorisation, while ensuring that operational decision‑making remains with trained staff.
All incoming calls processed through PCA are securely recorded and transcribed within a police‑controlled environment. The system produces short summaries and automatically categorises calls by topic, enabling faster retrieval and more effective analysis of contact data.
The system is trained exclusively on police data, and outputs are accompanied by plain‑language explanations, in line with current and emerging national standards for the use of artificial intelligence in policing.
Key features include:
- Repeat caller analysis, providing context around patterns of repeat contact rather than simple call counts
- Hidden vulnerability detection, identifying indicators of vulnerability that may not be captured in operator notes
- Compliance monitoring, checking whether crime prevention and forensic preservation advice has been provided, supporting improvement activity following PEEL inspections
Early pilot activity at West Yorkshire Police has shown:
- Improved capture of intelligence from public contact
- Better identification of vulnerability
- Increased assurance around compliance with expected advice
During pilot testing, the system identified 21% more calls containing indicators of hidden vulnerability than were previously recorded through standard processes.
Source: [West Yorkshire Police]