The University of Tennessee Law Enforcement Innovation Center (LEIC) is well known for developing state-of-the art training programs in a variety of areas, such as first line and advanced leadership and supervision, applied de-escalation tactics, and forensic photography.
Under the direction of Program Director Jeff Lindsay, a 28-year law enforcement veteran, the LEIC Training program has made significant improvements. With the addition of the VirTra V-300 simulator to the arsenal of training tools used by LEIC, Director Lindsey said, “with the advances in technology and tactics, we can effectively train anyone on the front lines.” This is because the V-300 offers more than 150 different scenarios that can be tailored for any agency’s particular needs, from breach scenarios for tactical teams to hostage situations for correctional officers.”
Director Lindsey has developed two Peace Officer Standards and Training certification (POST) training courses that combine VirTra V-300 scenarios with classroom work focused on verbal de-escalation, applied tactics, re-enforced with good communication skills. “There’s a critical need for de-escalation training, and the aim of the LEIC is to provide the most advanced training available to the hundreds of law enforcement agencies in Tennessee,” Lindsey says.
Director Lindsay believes, that because most law enforcement work is fact-oriented, and officers may at times take a narrow approach when investigating calls for service and miss important non-verbal, and body language queues a subject may be displaying. The VirTra V-300 is a teaching/training tool and he wants officers to recognize that verbal and nonverbal cues are equally important during any investigation. Employing a broader assessment of the situations they encounter will provide a safer approach for both the officer and the subjects involved. The very realistic scenarios provided in the VirTra V-300 combined with classroom work allow officers to experience and develop skillsets that result in improved officer safety and public relations.
The V-300 allows instructors flexibility to alter scenarios in an effort to meet the training needs and department policy of each participant. “The beauty of the V-300 is in the branches,” he explained.
Depending on the participants course of action while in the V-300 simulator the instructors can select from a variety of different scenario reactions with the click of a mouse, that require participants to employ active listening, good communication, and reasonable force skills.
“We want to show them they have options beyond using a kinetic response,” says Lindsey, adding “the idea is to show them that they can de-escalate a situation and still gain compliance” of a subject by creating space, using non-threatening body language and simply slowing things down. “
Director Lindsey is working to develop a new use case for the VirTra V-300 using the V-Author feature. Forensics training is a big part of the LEIC charter, and V-Author will allow LEIC staff to create a number of custom scenarios for forensics training classes which re-create violent crime scenes. These types of scenarios will assist trainees to recognize key elements in shooting, stabbing, violent crime incidents by recreating the crime scene.
This type of training is beneficial for law enforcement investigators required continued education as it will improve processes around evidence recovery, submission and the VirTra simulator scenarios can be used to improve report writing. This training will improve overall investigation and successful prosecution.
Director Lindsey hopes to one day make their V-300 portable, allowing a better service and easy access to smaller law enforcement agencies who may not have the ability to travel to LEIC due to staffing or budget issues.
Virtual Simulator Brings Immersive Training for De-escalation and Crisis Situations
Tempe, Ariz. — December 4, 2017 — VirTra, Inc. (OTCQX: VTSI), a global provider of training simulators for the law enforcement, military, educational and commercial markets, today announced that Missouri’s O’Fallon Police Department has installed a VirTra V-300™ simulator in its newly built Justice Center, which houses the police department, training center and vehicle fleet. The facility held its grand opening on Saturday, December 2.
The O’Fallon, Missouri, Police Department serves 86,000 residents. With the national focus on use of force and police training, the department saw an opportunity to better prepare its officers with training equipment designed to improve decision making in high-pressure situations. After significant research on the various options, the O’Fallon Police Department chose to include the VirTra V-300 judgmental use of force simulator as a major component in its new training facility.
“The new facility is the product of 10 years of planning and hard work and demonstrates O’Fallon’s commitment to protecting the public with advanced training that will prepare our officers to make good decisions in potentially volatile situations,” said Major Kyle Kelley of the O’Fallon Police Department. “The V-300 will also help members of our community see and understand some of the split-second decisions O’Fallon officers face on the street every day.”
Along with the VirTra V-300, the 97,000-square foot building’s training area has a seven-lane indoor firearms range, and a nearly 80-seat training room equipped with smart electronics. Each aspect is designed to make use of force and de-escalation training central to everything the department does.
The O’Fallon V-300 system includes Sig, Glock, TASER® and rifle options, along with Threat-Fire™ and V-Author™ accessories that allow trainers to customize content to local area scenarios.
“The addition of the Threat-Fire option was an important consideration for the department, since its previous single screen simulator was old technology with a tethered weapons system that could hinder training at times,” said Officer Ed Smith, O’Fallon’s range master and training officer. “The ability to incorporate local scenes and landmarks also was imperative, since O’Fallon is part of a multi-jurisdictional SWAT team that will make heavy use of the V-300 in the Justice Center facility to train its members.”
The VirTra V-300 system is capable of simulating hundreds of different scenarios that can convey body language and other non-verbal threat cues that are a crucial part of progressive judgmental use of force training. The V-300 also has multiple screens that offer a 300-degree view, and includes peripheral vision and weapons that closely match those used in the field to enhance the transferability of the training to real-life scenarios.
Each training scenario in the VirTra V-300 is based on real-life incidents and is professionally produced with content that is carefully vetted by subject matter experts to rigorously test a trainee’s critical thinking skills, weapons skills under pressure, and psychological responses to the stresses of life-like situations.
About VirTra
VirTra is a global provider of training simulators for the law enforcement, military, educational and commercial markets. The Company’s patented technologies, software and scenarios provide intense training for de-escalation, judgmental use-of-force, marksmanship and related training that mimics real world situations. VirTra’s mission is to save and improve lives worldwide through realistic and highly-effective virtual reality and simulator technology. Learn more about the company at www.VirTra.com.
Forward-looking Statements
This news release includes certain information that may constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by terminology such as “could,” “may,” “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “proposed,” “planned,” “potential” and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including statements about VirTra’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Although VirTra believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. VirTra cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Accordingly, due to the risks, uncertainties and assumptions inherent in forward-looking information, readers and prospective investors in the Company’s securities should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. All forward-looking information contained in this press release is given as of the date hereof, and is based upon the opinions and estimates of management and information available to management as at the date hereof and is subject to change. The Company assumes no obligation to revise or update forward-looking information to reflect new circumstances, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Media contact:
Susan Lehman
Slehman@virtra.com
(510) 599-6555
The Fort Worth Police Department places a big emphasis on judgmental use of force training using the VirTra V-300 firearms training simulator that is located inside their 30,000-square foot advanced training facility. Equipped with more than 130 unique judgmental use of force scenarios, the VirTra V-300 allows police officers and recruits to train in life-or-death, shoot/no-shoot situations they may face in the field. Officer David Garcia heads the training program, and has been a law enforcement trainer and instructor for more than 25 years. He’s seen first-hand how technology has changed use of force training and thinks the VirTra V-300 firearms training simulator is an important part of a trainer’s toolkit.
Realistic, Effective Training for New Recruits
The 300-degree view that the VirTra V-300 provides trainees is an important part of making the judgmental use of force scenarios real in a way that previous virtual reality firearms training simulators could not. “One of the goals of training is to get as close to real as possible while maintaining the safety of our officers and the public, said Garcia.
“And our previous simulator wasn’t very realistic.”
His department wanted to make sure that their judgmental use of force training “does a better job reinforcing the soft skills officers and new recruits need so they’re able to come into a situation without getting hurt or hurting someone else.”
Good verbal skills are an important part of police training, and the ability for new recruits to go through potentially dangerous scenarios in a controlled, yet realistic environment.
The VirTra V-300 simulator that Fort Worth PD installed has virtually every possible use of force scenario that an officer could encounter in the field, from active shooting incidents, to vicious dogs to traffic stops. Garcia felt that the traffic stop situation in which a subject is resistant to an officer’s commands is particularly instructive for new recruits, who may be unsure of themselves, or the local statutes which allow them to take certain actions, such as requiring a subject to identify themselves. Law enforcement officers need to learn effective techniques for communicating under stress, by de-escalating a situation or to avoid being drawn into a physical confrontation.
The Results: Improved Efficiencies, Better Tactics
By using the VirTra V-300 simulator, The Fort Worth training team found significant increased efficiencies in their training scheduling. Training supervisors are now working with field supervisors to schedule use of force training on the Virtra V-300 simulator in 30-minute blocks, allowing one or two recruits to run through a scenario and receive detailed feedback on the actions they took and judgments made during the process. And “replaying the scenario allows recruits to see their mistakes,” says Garcia.
Often trainees will hesitate and react with uncertainty during a scenario or not remember what action they took, and law enforcement recruits are often surprised or unaware of what happened. Trainers can review the actions taken during the debrief process, and recruits can see how the simulated stress of the incredibly realistic judgmental use of force scenarios found in the VirTra V-300 simulator can impact their decision-making. “They will claim that they did something the way they were taught until they are shown a video replay, and we’ve got it there on tape,” said Garcia. He cited an example of a recruit who fell back on engaging a subject with a weapon in his strong hand versus a two-hand hold, and how the video element of the debrief allowed him to demonstrate to the recruit immediately the proper shooting stance and how it impacted both his safety and marksmanship. And Garcia says “the biggest payoff is in the debriefing. When they see it, they say ‘wow’”.
Garcia also appreciates that he can teach new law enforcement recruits physical skills in addition to the psychological aspect of good communication. “I can see if their hands are empty and ready as they begin engaging a subject, or if they’re in a proper shooting stance if the scenario escalates,” ensuring that recruits are correctly using the techniques they’ve been taught which will help keep themselves and the public safer. These are insights that can’t be gleaned from training on a shooting range or using older technology, since the action is usually more static and less realistic.
The realistic use of force scenarios also allow recruits to better understand the physiological effects of stress that can accompany the immersive sights and sounds sound in the VirTra V-300 firearms simulator. These lifelike aspects sometimes have an impact on the way law enforcement officers and recruits interpret things and react in the scenarios, causing them to miss the sound of a door opening outside their field of view. In a scenario in which the subject has a firearm, this can have potentially deadly consequences. “[VirTra System is] as realistic as you can get,” says Garcia.
Customer Profile: California’s San Luis Obispo Sheriff’s Department Adds a Firearms Training Simulator
San Luis Obispo County (SLOC) is located on the Pacific coast, halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, California, and was established in 1850 as one of the original 27 counties in California. Servicing a population of nearly 270,000, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office is well-known for its progressive stance on law enforcement and agency collaboration. In 2015, SLOC Sheriff’s Department was awarded a grant from the Department of Homeland Security for multi-department collaboration. This enabled them to purchase a VirTra V-300 firearms training simulator equipped with VirTra’s Threat-fire, V-Author and Low-Light enhancements for use of force training.
The SLO Sheriff then partnered with the local branch of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection agency, Cal Fire, to obtain a classroom facility that could be available to local, state and federal law enforcement agencies throughout San Luis Obispo County. The location also provided an enhanced classroom setting with cameras that facilitate better learning and more detailed feedback for post-training debriefings.
Sherrif’s Department Need for Judgmental Use of Force Training
The SLOC Sheriff’s Department had rigorous criteria in looking for a new judgmental use of force simulator. Commander Michael Manuele, who oversees training for the department, felt their existing simulator was outdated, since it involved using cumbersome headgear for its shootback system and also suffered from software issues. He knew they needed a system that offered a more realistic experience with software that could be updated and customized according to their needs.
A Firearms Training Simulator is Crucial for Real Life Training
Undersheriff Tim Olivas wanted to ensure that his department’s firearms training simulator was equipped with advanced law enforcement training technology capable of changing as rapidly as the evolving dangers facing his deputies, from officer ambushes to active shooter use of force scenarios. “In law enforcement, we tend to get comfortable, and change is difficult at times, but Sheriff Parkinson has instilled a culture here that embraces change, and we want to put our officers in training that is as real as possible.” There were also countywide staffing and resource issues around training to consider, since local law enforcement often had to spend their sometimes limited resources on sending personnel outside the county for [use of force firearms] training to keep their skills current. “Finding training time is challenging when they are working full-time, even over-time, and you have to send them somewhere overnight to train,” Olivas said.
The V-300 Firearms Training System’s Superior Features
“We’ve used other systems in the past and were satisfied with those results, but those weren’t comparable with the VirTra firearms training system. This was a big step up,” Manuele said. The 100+ different scenarios in the V-300 provides lifelike training that allows law enforcement to better understand the appropriate level of use of force needed in a given situation, confronts them with the decision-making and mental processes they’ll undergo in those situations, and through the de-briefing process, helps users evaluate those decisions afterwards with experienced trainers and positive reinforcement to help them succeed.
VirTra’s V-300 Use of Force Training Simulator Prepares Officers
The V-300 training system not only prepares officers for the most common use of force scenarios, but the V-Author add-on allows them to create new situations as needed to challenge trainees in novel ways, with an ability to educate and debrief as part of the process to further enhance decision-making under pressure. “You don’t get the chance to correct it in the field, but you can with the V-300. That’s the value of the VirTra training system,” said Olivas. The department also liked the different force options available on the V-300, from situations with pepper spray and Axon® TASERs®, along with the multiple firearm options available, from handguns to shotguns.
Because the California Commission on Peace Officers Standards and Training (POST) has certified the training on the department’s V-300, any sworn officer that spends time in the system can use it towards continuing education to maintain their certifications and keep their skills current.
Today, more than 20 Agencies in San Luis Obispo County use their V-300 firearms training simulator to prepare their officers for use of force situations.
The local community also benefits as well, since training in the V-300 is included as part of the department’s Sheriff’s Citizen Academy, an education and outreach program that provides county residents with an inside look at the Sheriff’s Office and all aspects of law enforcement. SLO has opened their training center to the local community to show the stress and split-second decisions that law enforcement personnel face in life-threatening situations on the job. “We owe it to the community we serve to provide them with the best trained officers we can,” said Olivas.
Monmouth County, New Jersey recently installed a VirTra V-300 simulator training system as part of its new Situational Training and Response Simulator (STARS) facility, an advanced training center for first responders that’s the first of its kind in the state.
Virtual Reality Training System Unveiling
County officials unveiled the VirTra virtual reality training system technology as part of an official ribbon-cutting marking the grand opening of the STARS facility. As part of the activities, the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office invited members of the media, including reporters from KPIX-11 and CBS-2 in New York City, to experience the same potentially life-threatening situations that law enforcement officers can face every day in the field.
The V-300 Use of Force Training System
The V-300 at the STARS facility will train personnel from the Monmouth County Sheriff’s Office, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, the Monmouth County Police Academy and the Monmouth County Police Chiefs Association, and first responders from fire, EMS and other agencies can also take advantage of the training as well.
Reporters that participated noted the realism that VirTra’s patented Threat-FireTM technology provided, and Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden described the advantages that V-AuthorTM offers in allowing local agencies to fully customize their training by inserting local buildings or other landmarks into their own unique virtual scenarios to make them even more realistic for their personnel.
Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher Gramiccioni praised the VirTra technology at the event, calling it “the most effective, as close to real-time as possible,” and added that law enforcement needs to constantly innovate and be on the “tip of the spear” to ensure that they stay ahead of the constantly evolving threats facing police officers in today’s environment.
A Realistic Police Simulator
The VirTra purchase received support and funding by the local Board of Masons, which, like many other government bodies, is working more closely with law enforcement to fund innovative training and advanced training facilities like STARS and one in San Luis Obispo County that permit multiple agencies to reap the benefits of VirTra’s state-of-the-art technology.
In addition, training on the VirTra system is included as part of a Citizen’s Police Academy that the Monmouth County Police Academy offers to area residents, allowing them to see and experience life-threatening emergency situations that call for split-second decision-making. Monmouth County Sheriff Shaun Golden called the Academy a great opportunity for citizens to learn about the tremendous responsibilities that law enforcement has in keeping them safe.
VirTra is proud that its simulation technology is helping government and law enforcement agencies like those in Monmouth County and around the country to train officers to become better prepared to handle the stress of use of force situations and educate citizens on the deadly threats that officers can encounter.
MURRAY, Utah — Police officers are constantly undergoing training on how to handle stressful situations they encounter in the field.
On Tuesday, Utah police officers stepped into a virtual reality simulator, giving them an enhanced training experience.
The training was put on by the Utah Attorney Generals’ Office at a facility in Murray. The simulator, VirTra system, is a 300-degrees virtual reality.
It allows an officer to see, hear and feel the experience that is put before them.
The VirTra is about a quarter-of-a-million-dollar system that trains officers on how to de-escalate a dangerous situation to the best of their ability.
“What we are really doing here is overlaying training with stress inoculation,” said Ken Wallentine, Attorney General Special Agent VirTra Operating Director. “They (the officers) can make high stress mistakes and learn from them as opposed to high stress mistakes in the public where perhaps someone else pays the price.”
The system’s super computer is designed to respond based on the the officer’s actions. There are hundreds of video scenario responses created and built to react to their actions.
“The actors respond to the officer’s tone of voice, whether the officer chooses his first response to take a weapon out to fire, so they are inside technically sophisticated video streaming around them,” Wallentine said.
VirTra’s goal is creating critical decisions for officers, solving crisis communications with high-stress levels that physically raise your heart rate so an officer comes out armed with new tools to bring into the field.
The program in Utah has been so successful they are sharing it with other states, including an Arizona agency next month.
Original Link: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/11/police-virtual-reality-training-stop-shootings?CMP=oth_b-aplnews_d-1
Hundreds of centers across the US are using virtual reality to train officers to shoot more accurately – and also help them to decide whether to shoot at all.
When I arrived, two women sitting in a hot tub asked me what I was doing in their backyard. I wasn’t quite sure myself. “I’m just here because I heard it was a little loud and I’m seeing if you could keep it down.”
In the corner of my eye, a tall man lumbered toward me from inside the house, swinging a bottle. I asked him once, then twice, to put down the threatening object.
Demonstrators protest the shooting death of Alton Sterling near the headquarters of the Baton Rouge police department in Louisiana on Sunday. Photograph: Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Which is when things really started to escalate. Fumbling with my pepper spray, I hadn’t been looking at the women, who continued shouting. Before I knew what was happening, one had shot me.
Except that she hadn’t. Because all of this had happened inside a virtual reality system used to train police officers in Morristown, New Jersey. Wrapped inside the five screens of the VirTra 300 system, I was staring at my sore hip, replica pepper spray in hand and replica gun in my holster.
“You dealt with that better than most,” Sgt Paul Carifi told me, from behind his control screen. He was referring not to my poor communication skills, but my ability to endure the small electrical shock device attached my hip. When shot, the device shocks officers to add realistic stress. “I’ve seen some guys up here who are on the ground sweating when that thing goes off.”
Carifi trains New Jersey recruits and officers at the Morris County Public Safety Training Academy, one of hundreds of centers across the country using virtual reality not simply to train officers how to shoot more accurately but to help them to decide whether to shoot at all.
As the methods used to train officers in making lethal force decisions have come under increased scrutiny from activists and legislators, police departments have started to consider alternative approaches to training officers, including virtual reality. In the last year, the training company VirTra, whose simulators are used by hundreds of cities and multiple federal agencies, has seen an increase in sales.
Unlike training with paintballs or at shooting ranges, systems like VirTra 300 work by allowing experienced trainers to manipulate one hundred branching, interactive encounters that they can escalate or de-escalate depending on how the officers behave. Carifi showed me how, if I had successfully talked the liquor bottle-wielding man down, instead of aggravating him and his friends, I could have avoided getting shot – and returning fire.
Police have been using training simulators for target practice since the advent of 16mm film, but only recently have simulations for officer training been designed to avoid shooting altogether.
In March, lawmakers in Utah passed a bill that explicitly authorizes the attorney general to fund and support a statewide virtual reality training center for use of force and de-escalation policies for agencies across the region.
When Ken Wallentine, the director of the attorney general’s training center, started out in law enforcement 30 years ago, he and fellow recruits entered the field after only four days of training. Even when police academies started using flatscreen technology to train people in firearm handling, he recalled, the emphasis was still on using force. “It would be more accurate to say that those early systems were virtual reality shooting ranges,” explained Wallentine. “The evolution has come in applying virtual reality so that officers can resolve scenarios without taking their weapon out of the holster.”
Severalstudies have shown that virtual reality simulations are more effective at training officers than classroom settings. “The interesting part about virtual reality is that you can design it for scenarios where officers in the past have failed, and you can give other officers the benefit of having been there before so that they can succeed,” said Richard Wright, a 26-year police veteran who has authored one of the few studies on the effects of training police recruits with simulators.
Realism also helps. The wrap-around screens, Booth said, forced his officers to engage their peripheral vision and remain aware of their surroundings – or risk getting shot by surprise. Teams of former state and federal law enforcement agents contribute to designing realistic scenarios based on patterns of experiences, as well as actual after-incident reports. “I always say we can look at these simulators like a time machine. You can go back and redo these incidents,” said Robert McCue, general manager of the virtual reality training company Milo. “In a simulator, they have second chances. Out on the street, they don’t.”
Some policing experts are not so sure. Amid hefty price tags and limited research on the devices’ long-term effects, these experts raise concerns that hi-def virtual reality simulations may divert funding from other low-tech methods for reducing officer shootings, such as mandating use-of-force policies, expanding the number of unarmed mental health officials, and prosecutorial reform.
Jeffery Robinson, deputy legal director of the ACLU, explained that the ultimate impact of virtual reality training would depend less on the technology itself and more on “how it’s used and the outlines of the policies, procedures, and programs that are put on top of it”. “Are these simulations going to be racially biased?” he asked. “How are these programs set up? Who is the good guy and who is the bad guy?”
Where a decade ago, routine bank robberies constituted a large part of some training programs, departments now request scenarios for mentally ill sensitivity training. “In the past, it was very clearly demarcated who was the good guy and bad guy,” McCue said. “Now it’s not as clear cut as it used to be. It’s not cops and robbers.”
The Brooklyn College professor Alex Vitale, who studies policing practices, finds the underlying training philosophy “problematic”, regardless of the scenarios deployed. “The problem is not the technology per se, but the mindset that drives the training in the first place,” he explained. His own experience trying a virtual reality simulator left him in a defensive, litigious mindset, as opposed to “a guardian mindset where the use of force would represent a profound failure”.
Certainly getting shocked by Virtra’s patented electrical device was unpleasant – so much so that I wanted to avoid it happening again. But it was unclear whether that would eventually help me to better learn de-escalation tactics or simply make me trigger-happy. After my first shock, I responded to a dispatcher’s call about two young teenagers spraying graffiti with my handgun drawn, until Carifi kindly reminded me to put it away.
When I entered the graffiti scenario for a second time, I spent a few minutes arguing with one of the boys to take his hand out of his jacket, where he seemed to be concealing an object. Eventually I succeeded; the sullen teen dropped the object he was holding – it turned out to be a spray can – and got on to his knees. But it could have been otherwise. Carifi showed me an alternative version of the scenario, where the teen’s hidden object was a handgun that he would use to shoot me multiple times. Had I continued to hold the pepper spray with my dominant hand, Carifi pointed out, I wouldn’t have been able to pull my gun out. Even in a successfully de-escalated encounter, the lesson – vigilance – was clear.
Whether such virtual training will reduce force in real-world encounters remains an open question. Experts caution that technological transformations in training must be accompanied by legal and social reforms. “In the real world,” Vitale said, “there’s still very little downside for shooting someone.
TEMPE, AZ–(Marketwired – Oct 17, 2014) –VirTra Systems (PINKSHEETS: VTSI), a leading provider of use of force training andshooting simulators to military, law enforcement agencies and other organizations, today announced the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Training Bureau proudly unveiled VirTra V-300™ technology, which was recently added to enhance the officer safety training curriculum. This innovative and unique system is a 300-degree police firearms training simulator which immerses a single deputy or multiple deputies in real life scenarios a peace officer could face in the field. Members of the media were invited to the Biscailuz Center Training Academy in East Los Angeles to experience this training firsthand.
The media experience was put on by Tactics and Survival Training (TAS) Unit personnel regularly assigned to operate the VirTra V-300™ training simulator. Media representatives had the opportunity to be immersed in one of over 100 possible scenarios and make split-second decisions in their own traffic stop, observation, call to a location, or incident.
Scenarios possible in the V-300™ system include, but are not limited to: person with a gun, active shooter with multiple victims, officer ambush, domestic violence situations, and many other incidents a peace officer may face in day-to-day police work. What makes the V-300™ system unique is the realism of each scenario, including the critical simulation of return fire provided by the Threat-Fire™ device. In addition, each scenario can be selectively changed by the computer or may be modified by Tactics and Survival Training Unit staff. It is not a video game and the characters are real actors, not computer-generated.
The simulator consists of five interconnected screens which surround the participant in a 300-degree arena and display life-size actors. Sound equipment and a vibrating training platform add further dimensions of realistic sensations.
The system requires no safety equipment, although the simulated weapon system of the V-300™ uses real handguns, shotguns and rifles. The firearms were modified to be filled with compressed carbon dioxide instead of live ammunition. The release of carbon dioxide when the weapons are fired simulates recoiling action, adding a realistic feel to the scenario. The simulated weapon system includes the use of less lethal tools used in police work, such as TASER® or pepper spray. In some cases, the student can successfully navigate through a given scenario without deploying any weapons by simply communicating or giving the appropriate commands.
An unused utility room at the Biscailuz Center Training Academy was refurbished to house the VirTra V-300™ and create a classroom environment. While the training is realistic, the classroom setting is a reminder of the learning environment surrounding the V-300™.
The Tactics and Survival Unit (TAS) is one of seven components of the Training Bureau designed to provide academy recruits and in-service personnel with the most current, innovative, creative, and realistic learning experiences available to law enforcement.
TAS Unit instructors can program the V-300™ to dictate each scenario based on a series of “branches”. Based on the students’ responses, the system operator can select the appropriate scenario “branch” and make each scenario unique. The V-300™ also has several “play back” components that allow the TAS Unit instructor to review the students’ performance.
The V-300™ will eventually be available to all sworn department personnel, but the TAS Unit’s primary focus will be to prepare deputies for patrol and in-service training for Field Operations personnel. TAS Unit will eventually offer the use of the V-300™ to outside agencies for bilateral training.
“Enhancing our training practices with modern technology is essential in preparing our deputies to handle real life situations in their day to day work,” said Los Angeles County Assistant Sheriff Todd Rogers.
“The newly acquired V-300™ training simulator utilizes life like ‘shoot/don’t shoot’ scenarios to capture our effectiveness and help hone our skills,” he added.
“We are honored by having our products selected by one of the largest Sheriff’s Departments in the world,” said Bob Ferris, CEO at VirTra.
“Our passion is creating the most effective simulation systems in the world. We are excited for the opportunity to provide tangible training benefits to Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies who continue to provide excellent service to the citizens in which they serve,” he added.
About VirTra Systems
VirTra is a global leading provider of the world’s most realistic and effective use of force and firearm shooting simulators. VirTra is the higher standard in firearms training simulators, offering a variety of simulator platforms, powerful gas-powered recoil kits and the patented Threat-Fire™ simulated hostile return fire system. VirTra’s products provide the very best simulation training available for personnel that are entrusted with lethal force and critical missions. The Company’s common stock is not registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and the Company does not currently file periodic or other reports with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
This news release includes certain information that may constitute forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by terminology such as “will,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “future,” “intends,” “plans,” “believes,” “estimates,” “proposed,” “planned,” “potential” and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included herein, including statements about VirTra’s beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking information is necessarily based upon a number of assumptions that, while considered reasonable, are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results and future events to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Although VirTra believes that such statements are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such forward-looking information will prove to be accurate. VirTra cautions investors that any forward-looking statements by the Company are not guarantees of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking statements as a result of various factors. Accordingly, due to the risks, uncertainties and assumptions inherent in forward-looking information, readers and prospective investors in the Company’s securities should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information. All forward-looking information contained in this press release is given as of the date hereof, is based upon the opinions and estimates of management and information available to management as at the date hereof and is subject to change. The Company assumes no obligation to revise or update forward-looking information to reflect new circumstances, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
Public Relations Contact Greg Sexton
The Lavidge Company www.lavidge.com
(480) 998-2600
Tundra International is pleased to announce that it has entered into an exclusive partnership with Mr David Hammond, Barrister of 9 Bedford Row International Chambers, London to identify and develop new technology based training methods to test personnel on their knowledge and application of the Rules for the Use of Force and the ’100 Series Rules’ as it applies to the maritime security environment.
The 100 Series Rules, created by David Hammond, a UK Counsel and barrister-at-law who heads up the maritime practice at the International division of 9 Bedford Row Chambers (http://9bri.com/members/david-hammond), are intended to be a model set and example of best practice for maritime Rules for the Use of Force, and they are intended to compliment current industry RUF guidance, as well as supporting the requirements of ISO PAS 28007 as an international regulatory document. They are being developed for the use and benefit of the entire maritime industry with support and technical advice from international organisations such as the Security Association for the Maritime Industry (SAMI) and BIMCO, and are under-pinned by a thorough public international and criminal law legal review using an objective international law test of what is “reasonable and necessary” and “proportionate” when force is used in self-defence. See www.100seriesrules.com (more…)
VirTra Systems and Moultrie Police Department are partnering to present a regional demonstration to showcase the VirTra 300 LE Training Simulator. Moultrie Police Department now owns the VirTra 300 LE Training simulator and has discovered the tremendous training value that VirTra equipment provides.
Training as close to reality as it gets, our new simulator is providing needed situational and marksmanship training to help our officers feel more confident and stay safe.
VirTra Systems and Moultrie Police Department are excited to share Virtra’s technology to surrounding law enforcement and military personnel on Friday, July 27th. The demo will take place at:
Moultrie Technical College
(Building B, Room 125)
800 North Veterans Pkwy
Moultrie, GA 31788
Schedule your appointment today by calling Scott Holt at 1.800.455.8746 Ext. 5064 or email sholt@virtra.com.
