Police VR Simulations Train Them To Handle Shootings & Other Real-Life Scenarios
Video screenshot via VirTra
To prepare for real-world incidents like mass shootings and severe mental health episodes, virtual reality simulations are now part of the training curriculum for police departments in the United States, according to internal lesson plan documents picked up by Motherboard.
Role-playing scenarios involve cops interacting with footage displayed on large screens, calculating their next move to address a “Mad Bomber” or “EDP (emotionally disturbed person).” There’s even a “Hot Tub Trio” featuring people in a backyard hot tub “playing loud music and possibly smoking marijuana.”
At least for Orlando police department, whose training plan was obtained through a public record request, law enforcers seem to rely on the programs by “science-based de-escalation training” firm VirTra, though government contractor Axon has also created its own VR training system.
In some instances, law enforcers are placed in situations where a “judgmental use of force” might be required, according to VirTra’s website. These include videos entitled Movie Theater - Midnight Madness and Active Threat Active Killer, which have been likened to gameplay from Call of Duty: COPS by Input.
Many of these videos, though, are focused on de-escalation, and are designed to refine cognitive and psychomotor aptitude.
What these training “games” promise is a second chance, which is rare in real, high-stakes situations. “Here you can have kind of like a do-over,” a participant describes. “If you go down one path and it’s not super great, you get the chance to do it again. So you’re not creating a training scar. You get that nice, positive ending that you want to get.”
[via Input and Motherboard, cover image via VirTra]
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