v16Optimized for Windows 11 in-car computers
Your time saves lives. Dragon saves your time. Officers speak incident reports into RMS and CAD 3 times faster than typing, run plates and VINs by voice while parked, and get back on patrol with their heads up.
The paperwork problem
Officers join to protect their communities, not to type. Yet incident reports, supplements, and RMS entries keep them parked in a lot or tied to a station desk, heads down and out of sight. In a 2019 Nuance survey of law enforcement professionals:
Why reporting is one of the biggest drains on police time, and how speech recognition changes it.
Why agencies choose Dragon
Results reported by police departments and sheriff's offices that moved report writing to voice.
Safety
Typing a report in a parked cruiser means looking down every few seconds. Speaking it keeps the officer looking out the windshield and aware of who is approaching.
"When officers speak into a microphone, their heads stay up. They have a full view of their surroundings. It makes things much safer."
Time
Reports finished in the field means less overtime at the station, fewer late-night call-ins for records staff, and more patrol time in the community.
"Every single member of the pilot program told us that Dragon was helping them complete reports faster."
Report quality
When talking is faster than typing, officers include the detail they would otherwise skip. That detail matters when the report reaches a prosecutor, or the officer reaches the witness stand.
"There used to be the old joke that the report could be six words long ... but now we're getting reports that are very in-depth and descriptive."
Only in Dragon Law Enforcement
Plate mode is built for the most common lookup an officer does. While parked, say the plate in the phonetic alphabet and the characters land in your agency's lookup software, with no keyboard and no looking down.
Plate mode types into the field that has the cursor. The lookup itself runs in your agency's existing software.
"Our officers can simply speak plate details and within seconds, plate registration and ownership details are on the screen. Once our officers used it, they didn't want to give it up."
Built for police work
Dragon Law Enforcement 16 includes everything in Dragon Professional 16, plus a language model and tools made for patrol cars, squad rooms, and records units.
A law enforcement language model knows vehicle makes and models, U.S. states, Canadian and Mexican provinces, and the exact language a report sometimes has to quote word for word. Add your street names, officer names, and agency acronyms on top.
Say "Spell that"Dictate anywhere you would normally type, including your existing RMS, CAD, and Word templates. Move through report fields by voice, and use the Dictation Box for screens that need it.
Say "Show Dictation Box"Turn report introductions, rights language, and search-warrant text into short voice commands with fill-in fields, so standard language comes out the same every time.
Say "Next field"Officers dictate into a recorder, and Dragon transcribes the file back at the PC. The Auto Transcribe Folder Agent works through a whole folder at once. Built for one speaker, such as the officer, or a single witness giving a statement.
Say "Play that back"Dragon Law Enforcement 16 is installed on the computer, so officers can dictate in areas without cell or data coverage. Internet is only needed for download, activation, and moving a voice profile to another PC.
Runs on Windows 10 and 11 desktops and in-car computers, and deploys on Citrix XenApp and XenDesktop. Voice profiles follow officers from one car or PC to the next when they sign in.
Say "List all windows"See it in a real department
Jeffrey Beahen, then Chief of Police for the City of Rogers Police Department in Minnesota, shows how his department creates incident reports and other documents by voice, moving from field to field in a report template without touching the keyboard.
"Seeing content on the screen as they dictate is helping the officers produce more thorough and accurate reports. They're able to review, edit and fill in missing details as they go, which makes a big difference."
Across the agency
One license covers every role. Pick yours to see where the time comes back.
For patrol officers and deputies
Finding a quiet lot to type for an hour is time off the street and a predictable spot to be found. With Dragon, officers dictate the narrative while parked, run plates by voice, and go back in service sooner.
"But using Dragon, they no longer need to make that stop, and they're at a lower risk of ambush."
For detectives and investigators
Investigations run on long, precise writing. Standard warrant language and report sections become voice commands, so detectives spend their time on the facts of the case instead of the formatting.
"We no longer receive reports where a detective guessed on the verbiage in a search warrant, inserted the wrong information, then had his report kicked back."
For chiefs, sheriffs, and command staff
Overtime, report turnaround, officer safety, and recruiting all come back to how long paperwork takes. Dragon gives every officer back part of each shift, and a pilot shows the result before a full rollout.
"In my experience, it's often easier to secure funding for new technology than for extra officers on the street. And, in effect, that's exactly what Dragon speech recognition technology gives us."
For records, admin, and transcription staff
When officers dictate into a recorder, Dragon turns the file into text and staff review it instead of typing every word. When officers write their own reports by voice, the weekend transcription pile goes away.
"By cutting transcription out of the process, we now have all our reports packaged and submitted by 8:15 on Monday morning."
Build the budget case
Estimate the officer hours your department spends typing reports, and what dictating them would return to the street.
Estimate only. It assumes dictation is 3 times faster than typing for the time spent typing, across 200 shifts a year. Actual results depend on the person and the work.
Estimated time back each year
4,000hours
In their words
"We researched our options and decided that Dragon for law enforcement from Nuance was the only viable utility. Nothing else had the level of functionality and customization we needed to support the practical realities of day-to-day law enforcement."
"One of the biggest impacts on our turnaround time is that our officers can quickly create final reports themselves, which saves our department from significant overtime costs."
"Dragon allows officers to quickly dictate reports while safely maintaining their situational awareness in their patrol cars."
Quotes and results describe Dragon speech recognition at each agency, including earlier Dragon Law Enforcement versions. Titles are as of the original source.
Free consultation
Most departments start with a short call. We confirm what you need and send a quote your purchasing office can use. On the call, we cover:
Already know what you need?
Buy Dragon Law Enforcement 16 online
Optimized for Windows 11. Windows only, with no Mac or tablet version.
FAQ
Buying for a department?
Talk to us about quantities, deployment, and a quote for your purchasing office.
Schedule a ConsultationDragon Law Enforcement 16 includes everything in Dragon Professional 16 and adds a law enforcement language model (vehicle makes and models, U.S. states, and Canadian and Mexican provinces) plus Plate mode for dictating license plates and VINs with the phonetic alphabet.
See Dragon Professional 16Dragon dictates anywhere officers would normally type and fills in form fields by voice, using "Next field" and "Previous field" to move through a report. For screens that need it, the Dictation Box lets officers dictate first and transfer the text. A consultation is the best way to confirm your specific systems.
Schedule a ConsultationNo. Plate mode types the characters into whatever field has the cursor, so the lookup runs in your agency's existing software. An administrator can create a custom command that opens that software and submits the query in one step.
When the vehicle is stationary. Dragon Law Enforcement is designed for in-car documentation while parked, so officers can dictate reports and run plates with their heads up and eyes on their surroundings.
Dragon Law Enforcement is optimized for noisy environments such as a station or patrol car. Pair it with a noise-cancelling microphone or headset. Built-in computer microphones and webcams are not suitable for dictation.
Yes. Dragon Law Enforcement 16 is installed on the computer, so officers can dictate in areas without cell or data coverage. An internet connection is needed to download and activate the software and to move a voice profile to another computer.
No. Transcription is for recordings of a single speaker, such as an officer's own recorded dictation or one witness giving a statement. It is not designed for interviews, body-cam or dash-cam audio, radio traffic, or any recording with several people talking.
No. Dragon turns what the officer says into text, word for word. The narrative stays in the officer's own words, which is what the officer will be asked about in court.
Most agencies start with a short consultation to confirm quantities, deployment, and pricing, and we issue a quote for government purchasing. Agencies that know exactly what they need can buy online.
Schedule a ConsultationInstalling Dragon 16 upgrades versions 13, 14, and 15 automatically and keeps custom words and commands, with no need to uninstall first. Upgrade license eligibility depends on what your agency owns, so confirm it with us before buying.
Schedule a ConsultationYes, but profiles do not carry over automatically between editions. Officers export their custom words and commands from Dragon Professional, then import them into Dragon Law Enforcement 16.
Dragon Law Enforcement 16 is desktop software installed on your agency's computers. For security, data handling, and compliance questions specific to your agency, schedule a consultation and we will walk through them with your IT team.
Schedule a ConsultationNo. Dragon Law Enforcement 16 runs on Windows 10 and Windows 11 only, including Windows in-car computers.
Free consultation
15 minutes
Pick a time below for a free 15-minute call about Dragon Law Enforcement 16 for your officers. We confirm what you need and send a quote your purchasing office can use.
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