Monmouth County’s VirTra V-300 simulator in action. The simulator gives officers a 300-degree view using five different screens. COURTESY MONMOUTH COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE
Virtual reality is being used to train law enforcement officers for scenarios they may encounter out in the field, ranging from traffic stops to active shooter situations.
A new facility incorporating a virtual reality simulator along with a physical training environment was introduced last month in Monmouth County, New Jersey. The facility is the first of its kind in the state and another step towards virtual reality becoming a more mainstream element in law enforcement trainingacross the country.
The facility is called STARS: Situational Training And Response Simulator, and is a joint initiative involving various agencies in Monmouth County. The location is divided into two parts. The first is a physical plant which places officers in a tangible environment using non-lethal training rounds, smoke, fire alarms, strobes, and other special effects. For the second, virtual portion of the training, they are using the VirTra V-300 simulator from a company called VirTra Systems Inc.
This simulator has five screens which allows trainees a 300-degree view of the situation. Scenarios are designed to replicate real-life events that officers may encounter in the field, ranging from domestic violence incidents to active shooter situations. The trainees are equipped with a variety of tools including training firearms that recoil and weigh the same as an authentic firearm would.
The scenarios are pre-recorded using trained actors with approximately 10 to 15 different outcomes per scenario. An operator in the training room controls how the simulation unfolds based on the actions of the trainee.
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Source: CBS News