With all the conditions and variables that occur on the field, shouldn’t your training reflect as many of them as possible? Not every room has lights on or available, and the sun is down for about half of each day. It is for this reason that VirTra made sure that low light training is available for both marksmanship training and scenario training.

Training Benefits

We don’t realize the benefits of a well-lit space until we are without one. In the dark, stress levels go up and even with the beam of a flashlight, there are still areas we cannot see. Looking for a subject that is on the move and possibly dangerous in a dark place is a great way to increase officers’ cognitive load and help them make the right decisions under stress.

Additional training points include using a handheld flashlight while suddenly having to get your lethal or less-lethal tool. What if you have to transition weapons while holding your handheld flashlight? Going from lethal to less-lethal or vice versa is a vital skill to practice, with even more challenge if it is done in low light.

Low Light in Scenarios

Many people are only familiar with the variable light settings in V-Marksmanship. In fact, you can make any scenario a low light one. For example, in the new Mass Chaos active threat scenario, you can dim or eliminate light as if the power went out, adding an extra element of uncertainty.

Of course, to combat this just as one would in real life, users can pull out their flashlight. VirTra’s V-G2X handheld flashlights utilize laser technology to light up the direction it is pointed in. V-Lux™ technology allows the beam to smoothly go from screen to screen for agencies with multi-screen systems. More than one flashlight can be used at a time, making it just as useful for training multiple officers at once.

Low Light in Marksmanship

Along with the variable weather conditions, wind speed/direction, and layout of our simulated ranges, instructors can also control the lighting. It can be nighttime on the range in your VirTra simulator, with the only light to rely on being your rifle-mounted flashlight.

Just like with the handheld flashlight, the V-TLR-7A rail mounted flashlight allows for efficient transitions between screens without interruptions. Since both lights utilize the OEM housing, there will not be training scars as it perfectly replicates one of the popular rail mounted flashlights.

Situations do not often occur under perfect conditions. Make sure your officers are prepared for low light events – plus many others that VirTra has available. Talk to a specialist to incorporate a VirTra simulator into your agency’s training regimen.

The stress-inducing electrical V-Threat-Fire® device brings consequences into the VirTra training simulator. By clipping it to a trainee’s belt, the instructor can activate the device to simulate all safety threats to include gun shots (return fire), dog bites, explosions and other serious threats. With the ability to change the duration and intensity of the activation, there are realistic possibilities to supply negative consequences.

Unlike other consequence methods such as those that fire projectiles, the Threat-Fire requires no clean-up and far less risk of injury. There is no aiming required and the device can be activated by clicking your mouse. Additionally, the V-Threat-Fire is tetherless; no wires mean more freedom for movement within the simulator.

Benefits

The V-Threat-Fire gets trainees to take the simulation seriously by providing a low-grade shock. The device has been tested extensively to ensure that there are no medical risks during use. The electrical stimulation also creates a distraction that officers have to work through, allowing them to complete the task at hand despite the disturbance.

Stress is a powerful psychological tool that can prepare trainees to perform effectively in difficult situations in the field. Proper implementation helps bring stress inoculation capabilities into a simulated scenario, better preparing officers for life in the field.

Improper Use

It is understandable for tactical mistakes to have a pain penalty. However, using pain to get a student to act when no threats exist is not only questionable, but hazing. Abusing the V-Threat-Fire or activating it too frequently will not get the training result you want. It actually will diminish the effect of the penalty.

Instructors may wish to communicate the intent behind the use of the V-Threat-Fire, especially to recruits and trainees who may feel wary of it. In this case, be sure that trainees understand that there is proven training value to adding consequences in the form of stress during training. The device should not be used as a hazing method or to be used as a plaything, but to achieve transferrable results.

 

The V-Threat-Fire is a patented device that is designed only for use within VirTra’s simulators. To learn more about its benefits and how to implement it into your training regime, contact a specialist.

Police academies and departments across the nation utilize a wide variety of methods and strategies to train new law enforcement officers. This can consist of roleplaying, lectures, trips to the range and so forth.

While each form of training has its benefits, they all fall short when utilized alone or siloed. This is because many training methods cannot account for the unpredictability officers will experience in the field, nor do they realistically immerse the trainees in the given scenario. This is why VirTra’s immersive simulators, such as the VirTra 300-degree judgmental use of force law enforcement simulator, provides a far more effective training.

The immerse quality is more than the physical immersion, though the V-300’s five screens do physically immerse trainees and officers, once they step into the simulator. Rather, immersion is taken to the next level with surround sound audio and integrated and interactive characters on each screen. In addition to this are the accessories: the Threat-Fire® provides real-life consequences and stress inoculation while VirTra’s recoil kits and CO2 magazines allow officers to utilize their personal firearms within the simulator. Instructors can take advantage of these immersive qualities to train officers in a variety of real-life situations from a safe, controlled and realistic environment.

Working Through Uncertainty

Law enforcement officials must work with unprecedented levels of environmental and situational unpredictability. After all, it’s a part of the job. While it is possible to account for some of the variables an officer might face, it is impossible to account for every variable in every situation, every day.

While lectures are important—after all, discussing the correct order of events provides direction and understanding—it cannot be the only form of training. Instructors can take training to the next level with roleplaying, though going through a scripted situation can only provide so much additional training. Simply put, there are no traditional teaching methods that can best prepare officers for the modern uncertainty they could face at any moment.

Why Scenario-Based Simulations

Even though there is a time and place for lecture-based and scenario-based training, trainees must train with immersive simulators to gain the best possible experience with ever changing outcomes in the moment based on the actions and reactions of the students. VirTra combines state-of-the-art technologies, certified curriculum and professional research to create a highly realistic training environment that increases and transfers skills to the field.

Instead of being told how to work through scenarios, trainees are placed in the middle of any given situation. The scenario begins with a voiceover of the police call from dispatch, then opening on the scene. After, trainees must engage with the subject(s) and make decisions to discover the best possible outcome. Each VirTra judgmental scenario is equipped with extensive branching options, allowing the instructor to choose the path of the scenario, based on the trainee’s decisions and actions inside the simulator. Training after this manner allows officers to engage in the same scenario multiple times, but receive a different ending each time, based on mistakes or proper choices made.

Immerse in Realistic Scenarios

At the end of the day, immersive scenario-based training establishes critical thinking and potentially life-saving skills that lectures. By surrounding trainees visually and auditorily, officers treat the training more seriously and find themselves engrossed in the situation.

Though VirTra’s simulators cannot completely replace other forms of training—such as live fire—it complements these skills and provides a foundation for an officer to build off of.

One of the most beneficial parts of the VirTra simulators is the debrief ability. After the scenario ends, instructors and trainees can replay the scenario and see what the trainee did correctly or mistakes that could have been avoided. The real-time play back, Picture-in-Picture playback videos and after-action provides extra training elaboration. No traditional method of training provides this debriefing opportunity or is as effective at helping officers understand the consequences of their actions.

VirTra’s immersive judgmental use of force simulator is a critical component of any department’s training program. Help your officers learn, build and maintain skills in the most realistic way possible with this immersive technology. To learn more, contact a VirTra specialist.

 

 

Police officers today have a wide range of crime-fighting tools available to them beyond just their service weapons as they perform their duties on the streets. They also have access to less lethal options, such as Axon® TASER®, kinetic energy rounds and OC or pepper spray, giving them additional choices when dealing with suspects in tense situations.

VirTra OC Spray Training

Yet to be ready to use those additional tools at a moment’s notice, officers need to regularly and safely practice operating them when dealing with criminal suspects and real-time crimes. That’s where the kinetic energy rounds, TASER and OC spray accessories available for VirTra’s use of force training simulators can be brought in to help officers better train for incidents when they will need to use de-escalation techniques and non-lethal force to control and subdue a suspect.

VirTra’s 12 gauge/37mm/40mm kinetic energy round accessories uses a laser within the simulator to represent these direct fire options. These dynamic training tools allow for higher stress, repetitive, skill building on these vital longer range less lethal options.

VirTra’s TASER accessory is modified to use a laser that “fires” at the display screens of the training simulator, rather than standard TASER stun equipment that strikes and disables suspects when they are shot. By allowing officers to use the same kinds of Taser devices in training that they will use on the street, it ensures they get and maintain real-world experience in operating the non-lethal devices so they are ready if they are needed.

The VirTra OC Spray accessory is a realistic-looking OC spray canister that is also modified to fire a laser rather than actual gas, giving officers the ability to train with the non-lethal crime-fighting tool while immersed in a training scenario on a VirTra use of force simulator.

The lasers in all products interact in real-time with the scenario videos being shown in the VirTra simulators, giving police officers the most realistic training they can receive. The suspects in the real videos featured in the simulators are affected by and react immediately to the officer’s use of the kinetic energy rounds, TASER or OC spray as part of the simulations.

By providing these training tools, officers get positive experiences in operating them to build their confidence and help them replicate their real-world, on-the-street use as closely as possible.

Several other accessories are also available for use with the simulators, including a low-light package that includes two special flashlights and other hardware and software which allows officers to simulate operations in low-light situations. The low-light option exposes the officers to the proper use of the flashlight and their weapon in such situations and teaches how to determine proper threat and target identification.

A specialty “breach door” accessory allows officers to practice how to break through a door when responding in an emergency. The device, which is specially designed to be re-useable for repeated entry by officers in training for close quarters battle (CQB) or room-clearing operations, gives officers experience with movements that are often not provided in standard training exercises. Officers can train in how to properly enter a room with their partner after breaching the door – when they still don’t know what is on the other side – enabling trainees to simulate this high-stress situation.

VirTra System Upgrades

In addition, VirTra offers other system upgrades that can enhance the use of its simulators. One upgrade is a 16-inch raised training platform for the simulator that brings officers up to the level of the display screens used by the systems, as well as an optional sound system that includes an amplifier and transducers to let officers “feel” the sounds they are hearing as they train. Also available are borderless display screens to make the videos seen by the officers even clearer and larger, eliminating a 5-inch black border between each screen in the standard versions. A touch-screen display option is also available for the computer system which is operated by an instructor to run the VirTra use of force training simulator.

All of these accessories and options are available in addition to VirTra’s patented Threat-Fire® Return Fire Simulator, 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 and return fire simulation to an officer’s training experience.

Law Enforcement Use of Force Training

The patented VirTra Threat-Fire brings the ultimate in realism to law enforcement use of force training 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 using an electric stun, which can be adjusted in duration to up to 2.5 seconds.

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, officers can practice de-escalation techniques as well as the use of non-lethal weapons as they react to situations from domestic disputes to hostage use of force scenarios and more.

V-300® Use of Force Training Simulator

VirTra’s judgmental use of force training systems, such as its 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 realistic video simulations which allow them to become enmeshed in the crime incident scenarios unfolding around them. VirTra also offers a full line of other simulators in three-screen and single-screen configurations for every training requirement.