VirTra is one of the largest developers and producers of police training simulators in the country. These large screen simulators place police officers in immersive and realistic de-escalation, and use-of-force training scenarios, and have been featured on CNN, MSNBC, ABC News, Newsmax and NPR as a way to reduce the number of tragic police-involved shootings. The simulators are accompanied by a nationally certified training curriculum.

VirTra has continued to be a solution that attracts media attention – both local and national – as part of our effort to be the most effective training solution. If you wish to interview one of our subject matter experts or film in-person at a training facility near you, please contact VirTra Public Relations.

A Police Advocate’s Simple Suggestion: Walk a Simulated Mile in a Cop’s Shoes

“When helping to present the debut of the new K-9 for her police department at a city council meeting, [Kendra Cook] was stunned to hear how little the council members knew about the police operations of their city. Knowing about police simulation training available through VirTra, she reached out to the company for help with an initiative to get simulation scenarios made available to government policymakers.” Read more here.

How VR Training Can Help Law Enforcement Officers Improve How They Do Their Jobs

“VirTra [provides] technical training for law enforcement and is being used by the Murfreesboro Police Department in Tennessee. Officers use nonlethal weapons and act out their responses to the virtual scenarios in real time.”

“What we try to do is practice here. If I make a mistake here in this training simulator, we can talk about it and we can go through it,” Capt. Don Fanning. Read more here. 

‘It’s Intense’: Murfreesboro Police Trains Officers in Use-of-Force Tactics Through Virtual Reality

Murfreesboro Police Department trains with a V-300—a 300-degree, 5-screen system that immerses officers in the situation. 

“[If] a door opens behind them to their left, then they would hear it behind them to their left. So, it really creates as much of a life-like scenario as you can humanly imagine,” Capt. Don Fanning. Read more here. 

Virtual Reality System Simulates Use-of-Force Scenarios Officers Face

“We want the people who are reaching out to and who we are speaking with and communicating with to take a minute to walk in our shoes and to understand what it is we’re dealing with on a daily basis and how it is we are coming to the decisions that we are with regard to how we use force and how we interact with the community,” Lt. Anthony DiCara. Read more here. 

Virtual Training Simulator to Help Prepare St. Charles Police Officers

St. Charles Police Station’s proposal to install a real-life VirTra training simulator is moving forward. “This type of training provides the opportunity to employ intervention strategies for police to help individuals in crisis with a goal of minimizing the need for physical or deadly force. The system does also provide opportunity for proficiency training with firearms and less-lethal weapons at a significant cost savings in comparison with the use of live rounds,” Deputy Police Chief Erik Mahan. Read more here. 

Police Simulation Shows What it Takes to Be an Officer

Allowing the public to talk a walk in an officer’s shoes—by interacting with VirTra’s law enforcement training simulator—helps bring understanding. “You realize that when you are put under pressure in certain circumstances your life depends on a matter of seconds, not even minutes,” Captain Mike Izzo. Read more here. 

EXCLUSIVE: Bellevue Police Use Realistic Simulators to Train Officers on De-Escalation

“One of the things that we need to work is just from square one of being a police officer is just how to talk to people,” Sgt. John Stuck. VirTra’s simulators help officers learn better communication and verbal de-escalation through scenarios ranging from calls about fights to a distraught employee with a gun. Read more here. 

New Police Training Simulator Gives Future Officers Hands-On Experience

“If you don’t have these kinds of simulators to do these kind of drills, the drills happen on the street,” Rob Betts, Simulator Trainer and Communications Director. This is why proper, modern and realistic training is critical for current and future police officers. “You may change someone’s life for the better. You may save someone’s life,” Ofc. Eric Howard. Read more here. 

Some People Like to Bash the Police. So Officers Invited Them to Walk in Their Shoes—and it Blew Their Minds.

“It’s nothing like what you see on television. I thought it would be much easier,” Reggie McGill, Orlando Mayor’s Municipal Labor Committee Commission member.

“Each one of your [officers] put your life on the line trying to protect others, so I have a greater appreciation for OPD after experiencing this personally,” Tom Keen, Board Member. Read more here. 

Phoenix Autism Advocates Help Create Virtual Training for Police

VirTra partnered with SARRC—Southwest Autism Research and Resource Center—to “…create these video training simulators so that police officers are not just getting educated on what autism is but more importantly are practicing the skills to interact with somebody with autism and get adequate feedback for doing that in as safe a way as possible,” Daniel Openden, President of SARRC. Read more here.

Who’s a Good Boy? Police Departments Step Up Training to Find Which Dogs Are

“The Law Enforcement Dog Encounters Training handbook was published by the Justice Department this fall in response to police departments across the country encountering public outrage and potential lawsuits after run-ins with aggressive family pets resulted in officers shooting the animals.” This program, paired with VirTra’s dog-based scenarios, teach officers the signs of friendly vs. aggressive dogs. Read more here. 

Police Simulator Uses Real Weapons, Tense Scenarios

“…there’s a growing segment in the law enforcement and defense sectors that believes the way officers use their weapons, how they interact with people and handle particular, real-life issues, can all be improved with technologies, and in particular virtual reality. ” | “Most police training does not follow the principles that we know work for decision making and knowledge application in the tense, uncertain, and rapidly unfolding events that law enforcement is engaged in,” Bob Ferris, VirTra CEO. Read about the benefits of VR training here.