Get De-Escalation Virtual Training for Your Force
Naturally, every police force and military unit wants their team to be effective. Leaders in law enforcement traditionally use lectures or videos to teach and prepare their teams. While these forms of instruction are suitable for disseminating knowledge, they are unable to showcase the real-life situations officers face on a daily basis. VirTra’s firearms and judgmental use of force training simulations better prepare any law enforcement department to make the right decisions under pressure—whether the circumstance calls for verbal de-escalation, less lethal or lethal force.
Defining the Effectiveness of a Police Force or Military Unit
What makes law enforcement “effective?” Is it defined by the number of criminals on the streets, the amount of traffic stops made per night or another metric entirely? VirTra believes that the most effective law enforcement officers are those who keep the public safe while minimizing harm. In this regard, effectiveness goes hand-in-hand with judgmental use of force. An officer who uses good judgment and decision-making in high-stress situations is the best trained officer.
Improved Ability to Make Effective Decisions
As mentioned above, quick and proper decision-making is critical in situations where emotions run high and the consequences are significant. As such, it becomes essential for law enforcement to train in stress-inducing environments to prepare for the field. VirTra presents the ideal training solution by placing officers and military personnel in situations where quick judgment is imperative and accessories like the V-Threat-Fire™ add real-life consequences. Moreover, these firearms simulations can help instructors identify weaknesses in an officer’s approach and work to correct any training scars.
Learning from Common Situations Before They Occur
Law enforcement agencies nationwide respond to common situations: EDPs, domestic disputes, and trespassing to name a few. Officers must train for the various ways these scenarios can play out, such as through VirTra’s simulator’s branching scenarios. Each scenario has multiple realistic branching options created by in-house Subject Matter Experts. Branching allows the situation to play out depending on the officer’s decisions. Through this technology, officers can enter any given scenario and test various de-escalation, less-lethal and lethal options to learn how to best solve a situation. Whether an officer is called on an everyday occurrence or a unique situation, they are prepared to respond with the best judgement.
Handling Difficult, Dangerous Situations
Training simulators are also an excellent option for teaching law enforcement how to effectively handle difficult situations. Officers may find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place; a type of challenge that is becoming more common. Understanding how to properly navigate such circumstances is crucial, yet difficult to learn. VirTra’s judgmental use of force and de-escalation training places police and military in challenging situations. They allow them to evaluate and make decisions based on their observations. The result is a cadre that understands the nuances of a dangerous situation and can respond accordingly without unwarranted force.
Hands-On Experience Tops Training Lectures
Law enforcement can train with all the lectures and videos in the world, but an immersive scenario elicits a stronger response. VirTra’s simulators allow for police and military personnel to learn the most effective solutions to situations while minimizing risk. Training in this manner provides new recruits with hands-on experience in a low-risk, secure environment. These training simulators also give participants the freedom to make and learn from mistakes without the real-world consequences attached. Contact our product specialists to learn more about how VirTra’s training simulators can transform your department.
To learn more about simulation training, download our FREE e-book!
The human brain is capable of many things, but there is considerable research that shows that we all learn in different ways. In order to teach adults a new skill, the human brain requires practice to improve their ability until it becomes second nature. One way to improve these new skills is to enhance your training tactics. A recent survey revealed that law enforcement officers felt 25% more confident in their ability to train when a use of force simulator was part of their training curriculum. This shows that the standards of law enforcement training are evolving to include better technology so that their officers are prepared for the field. But why does training with a simulator make such a big difference? There are several layers as to why simulation has such a profound effect on their improved training:
What is interwoven teaching?
While there are many ways to train law enforcement to have the right skills for the field, there is one effective training method that works in harmony to provide a variety of skills. With simulation training, the trainee has to go through several scenarios repeatedly to understand what actions they should have taken whether it is just a skill builder drill on a range or running through an intense de-escalation scenario where they have to practice calming the person down to a reasonable level. Part of that repetition creates an interwoven strategy that requires the trainer to come back to the same point multiple times. Even better, with the addition of simulation training, agencies can train officers in teams — this increases throughput by allowing more officers to train in less time than classroom lectures. By weaving a variety of skills and people into one training session, the outcome provides more confidence to the officers so that they are prepared for the field.
Law enforcement simulation training vs. traditional classroom
When conducting classroom or roleplaying training, there are significant differences and limitations to what can be conveyed and how much information is received. Another difference is that classroom and roleplay are usually only done on an annual or semi-annual basis. Therefore, what a team of officers learns in the classroom in January is often forgotten by mid-July. So how can you combat this issue of forgetting what is learned? How do you deal with the fact that many skills an officer must count on are perishable? Trainers can present an initial block of training where they learn the material in January and then build on their skill once a month or quarterly to keep the skills sharp and have better retention of the information presented. Likewise, simulation training can build intensity and provide a stressful environment where they can learn from their reactions in a safe space.
Adding Stress Inoculation
By inducing stress into the environment when training with a simulator, you can learn how to hone your skills the real-world situations like active shooters or emotionally disturbed person might require. With the addition of the Threat-Fire®, your team can learn how to de-escalate, to talk someone down off a cliff, or engage a threat all with real-world consequences. By training with a certain amount of threat that a shoot back device provides, law enforcement can improve their skills and marksmanship under pressure all in one training environment. This interwoven strategy, paired with the repetition and quality instructor time in the training simulator, can all add up to a more confident and prepared officer.
Overall, the old methods of training law enforcement will continue to evolve with new technology. By adding simulation training, trainers can elevate the standards for what is considered sufficient, so they are prepared for the reality of today’s problems. With an interwoven teaching method that simulation training can offer by combining a variety of skills all in one training solution, their confidence has improved significantly. The law enforcement of tomorrow will be better prepared for the harsh realities they face every day in the field, thanks to their improved training with simulation.
If you would like more info on how to improve your training with VirTra, click here to learn more.
When VirTra’s use of force training simulators are used in Law Enforcement or Military Training, the training processes work in much of the same way. One aspect of VirTra’ s system involves three major parts. These three parts functions together and they are: scenario debriefing, TMaR (Trainee Monitoring and Recording), and the Instructor Control Panel.
Scenario Debriefing
VirTra’s use of force simulators have a unique option that the instructor is able to “Debrief” the trainee immediately after they go through a scenario. It is extremely beneficial to be able to replay the scenario in slow motion and look at what force was used, was it verbal, less lethal or lethal force. Trainees are able to walk the instructor through their thought process while seeing the scenario in front of them while the instructor is able to point cues that the trainee may have missed. This feedback is critical to the learning process.
Being able to debrief and collect data from all trainees will show where additional training needs to be focused on. It will also train and remediate training flaws in a controlled environment. Where remedial training can be done prior to a real-life situation. This alone will save officers, solders and civilian lives. Because VirTra’s use of force simulations are customizable, it is possible for instructors to alter the scenario or even put trainees into different scenarios that will help them address weaknesses and better prepare them for the line of duty.
Trainee Monitoring and Recording (TMaR)
Trainee Monitoring and Recording, or TMaR, allows instructors to monitor and record their trainees while they are in the simulator responding to the events. This is advantageous to both the trainee and the trainer. The functionality of this system being able to be replayed during the debrief stage, on the same screen as the scenario makes for an excellent training aid. Trainers are able to point out to the trainee anything that they are doing right or wrong, from having a finger on the trigger to missing an aggressor due to their tunnel vision. This isn’t just an instructor telling a trainee that they need to work on something. This is video proof that is replayed during debrief with the scenario on the same screen showing the trainees reaction to the scenarios.
As the scenario plays out and the trainee responds to the simulation, the instructor can make playback notes for the trainee. Then, the picture-in-picture functionality provides an awesome debriefing tool, allowing the instructor and trainee to review the entire session play-by-play or simply revisit any problem areas that may need addressing. TMaR is an optional package that works alongside VirTra’s use of force simulators.
Trainees who can view their actions during a scenario are far more likely to improve the ways in which they react to those scenarios in the future, whether during a simulation or in the real world. With TMaR and the ability to watch the entire scenario or even parts of the scenario, even in slow motion, it becomes easier for instructors to help trainers understand strengths and weaknesses.
Instructor Control Panel
The instructor control panel is where the instructor can customize the chosen scenario in several unique ways, including adding audio to choosing between different branches that change the outcome of a scenario depending on the trainees’ actions or reactions to what is happening in the simulator. What’s more, the instructor also has access to VirTra’s Threat-Fire. Threat-Fire is a patented piece of equipment that VirTra is the soul source supplier of. This system gives the instructor the ability to stimulate the stress response of the trainee for any type of situation which raises the trainees heart rate, causes vasoconstriction, activates other endocrine system responses. These all being the response to any stress in the field.
Using these unique features of VirTa’s judgmental use of force simulator will give the trainee a realistic approach to real life scenarios while in a controlled environment where the trainee can learn from their own behaviors and reactions giving them an opportunity to change bad behavior and tactics while honing in the good behavior and tactics. Being able to put trainees through real life situations prior to it actually happening will save officers, soldiers, and civilian lives.