Posted on Jul. 25, 2017 by VirTra Inc

By VirTra

Judgmental use of force virtual reality training systems such as VirTra’s V-300 five-screen V-300 simulator provide police officers with video-enhanced, real-world training scenarios that mirror situations officers experience on the street regularly in their jobs. The V-300 allows police officers to be surrounded by 300 degrees of video use of force options training simulations which allow them to become enmeshed in the crime incident scenarios unfolding around them by offering a variety of force options training.

Virtual Reality Police Training

Making the virtual reality police training even more realistic is VirTra’s Threat-Fire, which is a wireless, battery-operated electronic accessory that clips on an officer’s waist on a belt or clothing and can be used by a training instructor to add real-time threat simulation to an officer’s use of force training experience.

The patented VirTra Threat-Fire device brings the ultimate in realism to law enforcement use of force training on VirTra systems by adding the simulated – but noticeable – “consequences” of a suspect attacking an officer. The Threat-Fire jolts the trainee officer with an ultra-low-dose of an electrical charge to replicate the sensation of being assaulted during a high-stress situation on the street. The device safely simulates the pain of hostile attack with an electric stun, which can be adjusted in duration to up to 2.5 seconds.

VirTra Threat Fire

The patented VirTra Threat-Fire device brings the ultimate in realism to law enforcement use of force training on VirTra systems by adding the simulated – but noticeable – “consequences” of a suspect shooting back at an officer.

 

Threat-Fire Simulator Effectiveness

The activation of the Threat-Fire Simulator is made even more effective because an officer undergoing use of force training in the V-300 or other VirTra use of force simulators doesn’t know when it will be activated by the training instructor. By randomly adding this consequence to the video training systems, officers undergoing police simulator training are provided the maximum amount of realism and feedback as they react to situations from domestic disputes to hostage use of force scenarios and more.

In earlier use of force virtual reality simulator systems for police officers, simulated return fire was typically provided by paintball shots or through archaic return fire “cannons” that were mounted on top of the system’s display screen, aimed in the general direction of a trainee. Instead of providing true situational feedback, those devices failed to add realism, and instead often diverted a trainee from the true immersion they were trying to gain in the police training simulation they were undergoing. Threat-Fire can even simulate the risk to physical safety from assaults with edge weapons/impact weapons, animal attacks and even vehicular attacks, it goes beyond the simplistic “shoot-back” concept.

How’s the Threat-Fire Different?

That’s where Threat-Fire is vastly different. By attaching to a trainee’s belt before they enter a VirTra simulator, the Threat-Fire becomes an integrated part of the trainee’s equipment. The officer forgets it is there, but when a training instructor uses it to induce pain during a video scenario, the Threat-Fire kicks up the officer’s stress level and they react to that simulated pain in realistic ways in the moment. The feedback provided by the device makes the officer in the use of force training scenario more situationally aware and causes them to change their positions in reaction to the input from the device. The Threat-Fire instills a desired stress response for true realism. In such training, this is a critical goal – to get an officer’s heart rate elevated so they accurately feel how the stress of real-world crime scenarios begin to affect their individual decision-making, motor skills, cognitive thinking and overall performance.

VirTra Return Fire Simulator

Attached to the trainee’s belt, the Threat-Fire kicks up the officer’s stress level and they react to that simulated pain in realistic ways in the moment.

 

The Threat-Fire is a training tool that provides real-life inputs and elicits genuine reactions and true-to-life situational immersion during high-stress training situations to make them as realistic as possible, because those are the times when officers on the street can have difficulty making split- second, critical use of force decisions.

Before simulator-based training like VirTra’s V-300 police simulator system, police officers had little access to realistic ways of practicing their reactions to deadly force encounters. When the bullets are flying, VirTra’s virtual reality police training systems and the Threat-Fire Simulator provide accurate and realistic simulations of those intense experiences, giving officers the ability to improve their control, understanding and confidence so they can vastly deepen and gain from their training.