Every day in a police officer’s life brings uncertainty. Because of this, agencies have an obligation and duty to train their officers as best as they can for events that may or may not occur in the future. Failing to provide this training can result in officers making poor decisions at the wrong times, and inevitably, this leads to lawsuits. Here are some ways in which proper use of force simulator training can reduce lawsuit risks.

Simulator Training is Proactive – Not Reactive

Unfortunately, many police agencies use training as a means to avoid or respond to liability and lawsuits. For example, only after someone injured by an officer files suit will some agencies truly invest in their officers’ training. Judgmental use of force simulator training is different in that it should be used proactively. Instead of using it to react to an existing lawsuit or incident, it is used to prevent those lawsuits and incidents in the first place.

“Failure to Train” Lawsuits Can Occur

There are two ways in which someone can establish a case against an officer or department with the claim that the officer involved in an incident was not properly trained. First, if it can be proven that an officer lacked training in a particular area, there is basis for a lawsuit. Simply put, if an officer uses deadly force, but it can be proven that the officer did not have the right firearms or deadly force training, then a lawsuit has credibility and merit.

The second means of establishing a “failure to train” lawsuit involves pointing out consistent areas where more than one officer is poorly trained. As an example, if several officers on a particular police force are not trained to handle hostage situations, and this leads to a poorly-handled situation later down the line, a lawsuit is very likely.  This would indicate that the police department is not properly training its officers to handle situations that may arise.

How Use of Force Simulator Training Can Help

Judgmental use of force simulator training is one of the best ways to avoid not only “failure to train” lawsuits, but lawsuits of any kind. Today’s simulators are incredibly high-tech and submerse the officer into a virtual world where he or she will be required to make life-or-death decisions on the spot, much like out in the real world. They incorporate everything from realistic firearms training to practicing hundreds of configurable scenario content from our extensive library and customizable scenarios that officers may encounter on the job. This provides the necessary experience and expertise, allowing these officers to make better decisions when someone’s life may truly be on the line.

Many of the lawsuits brought against police officers and their departments are credible. Sometimes, it is because the officer made a poor spur-of-the-moment decision, and other times, it is because the officer was not properly trained from the start. In either case, judgmental use of force training simulators can reduce the risk of lawsuits and save lives.