High-tech scenarios aid training
A video game on steroids might be the best way to describe the Denver Police Department’s newest training gadget — a fivescreen, wraparound video simulator where teams of officers face tough decisions on when to pull a trigger and when to ease off.
Officers are graded on how well they react to various situations, including a suicidal man holding a baby on a bridge, a man with mental illness in an alley and a school shooting. The new simulator is part of the department’s increasing focus on de-escalating volatile situations.
Make a mistake that could get you killed? Feel an electric shock from a small device clipped to your uniform. Accidentally shoot an innocent person? Watch the situation escalate out of control and get a lecture from a training sergeant when you finish.
“This isn’t just about shooting situations but also about don’tshoot situations,” Police Chief Robert White said.
The department unveiled the $300,000 simulator with a 300-degree screen Friday at its training academy near Stapleton. The Denver Police Foundation paid for the simulator with help from Wells Fargo, said Jane Franklin, the foundation’s director. The simulator is made by VirTra, an Arizona-based company that develops tactical training simulations for law enforcement and military.
Previously, the department used a single screen video simulator, but only one officer could train on it at a time. With the new setup, teams of officers can train together. That’s important because many situations — including active shooters — require the first cops on the scene to act, White said.
“Sometimes, you don’t have time to wait for the SWAT team to come in,” White said. “The officers working in the precincts have to go into the situation.”
Police trainers are able develop hundreds of scenarios a cop may face on the street.
The simulator came with 100 pre-programmed situation. It also gives the department the ability to build scenarios on the 16th Street Mall or at Mile High Stadium and allows trainers to create situations experienced by Denver’s nearly 1,400 officers.
“We hope to develop critical thinkers who better make splitsecond decisions in life or death situations,” Kyle said.
Officers use guns, pepper spray and Tasers with lasers built into them to simulate the various weapons they have on their belts, Sgt. Eric Knutson, who works at the training academy, said. They wear regular uniforms when training so it comes as close to a real-life situation as possible.
During a demonstration Friday, Knutson sat at a computer monitor where he manipulated action on the screen, based on how officers were reacting. If someone made a mistake, then the situation would get worse for the officers.
When a cop faces a dangerous situation on the street, his heart rate speeds up and his body dumps adrenaline. It’s common to experience tunnel vision where the officer no longer is hearing or seeing anything else around him, Knutson said.
The simulator is designed to push those stress buttons in the officers. Hopefully, the more often an officer experiences those feelings the better he can recognize its happening on the streets.
“They get used to that feeling,” Knutson said. “They’re able recognize they’re getting tunnel vision and open things back up.”