"911 calls are a very important part of an investigation," Jasper County Sheriffs Department Lt. Ron Thomas said.

Changes in voice tones, pauses and speech patterns are quickly becoming clues for law enforcement agencies in homicides and other serious crimes.

"When you pick up the phone and dial 911, you're automatically going to be upset, stressful and this training will help us to pick up the importance of the information given to us," Lt. Thomas said.

Now, the technique is coming to our area. Officers from as far away from Springfield are turning Carthage's First Christian Church into a temporary crime lab simulator.

"It's just a way, and a new useful tool in investigations of all kinds of crimes, particularly violent crimes and more serious crimes," Officer Curt Ringgold said.

And Lt. Thomas adds the verbal cues are not the only clues that can tell investigators if a person is either guilty or innocent. Sometimes the person can be saying too much during the call.

"They'll tell us they 11-12 have stab wounds, well how would you know if you didn't look and you just spotted them and just came across the individual lying some place?"

And while investigators continue to bring new tools into their crime lab, officers like Ringgold say a simple stutter or pause can help them put the right person behind bars.