For Patrol Officers ·
What you'll accomplish
Speak your notes into your phone. Get an automatic transcript. Paste it directly into ChatGPT or your RMS. This guide sets up Otter.ai to capture your spoken field notes in real time and eliminate the double-handling step that steals 15-30 minutes per incident.
What you'll need
What you should see: The Otter.ai home screen with a big record button and your conversation history.
The free plan gives you 300 minutes/month of transcription. That's roughly 10 minutes of recording per day, enough for a few incident notes. If you use it heavily, the paid plan at $16.99/user/month gives unlimited transcription.
What you should see: Real-time text appearing on screen as you speak. Otter transcribes live.
Tap on the just-created recording in your conversation list. You'll see the full transcript with your words. Otter timestamps each line automatically.
At the top of the transcript, tap the Share icon:
Troubleshooting: If Otter mishears a lot of words, try recording in a quieter location or holding the phone 6-8 inches from your mouth. Background radio chatter significantly reduces accuracy.
Two options once you have the transcript: