‘Here to change the way police respond’
Hamilton officers are making use of virtual reality simulations for mental-health crisis training
Jamie hasn’t slept and he’s scared there are people who want to hurt him. He has PTSD, has consumed cannabis, and has injuries to his face and ribs.
He tells Const. Scott Woods of the Hamilton police that people came to his apartment that morning and tried to get in the front door. Then they went around back — “that’s how they got in here last time when I was sleeping.” He’s afraid they’re coming back.
When Jamie picks up a bat, Woods — standing in the apartment doorway — tells Jamie that he’s safe. He’s there to help him and asks Jamie to put down the bat. Jamie listens and agrees to let Woods call for an ambulance.
Jamie is not a real person, but exists in one of six virtual reality training sessions that Hamilton police are using to train officers to deal with mental-health crisis response.
The first-of-its-kind program is based off research led by Jennifer Lavoie of Wilfrid Laurier University and Natalie Alvarez of Toronto Metropolitan University. It was developed in consultation with community agencies and those with lived-experience, including those who have had interactions with police while in crisis. The virtual reality training was developed by Toronto-based company Lumeto, who took the scenarios created by Lavoie and Alvarez and turned them into a realistic VR experience.
Hamilton is the first police service to agree to use the technology in its crisis intervention training, after participating in a study earlier this year that assessed the differences between live and virtual reality training.
It has been six years in the making, Lavoie said at a demonstration at the Hamilton police investigative services building Thursday.
The mental-health crisis response training program was designed in response to Paul Dube’s 2016 ombudsman report into police de-escalation in crisis situations, and Justice Frank Iacobucci’s 2014 report following the Toronto police shooting death of Sammy Yatim, as well as recommendations from numerous inquests into fatal police encounters. It was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
“We’re here to change the way police respond to mental-health crisis situations,” Lavoie said. “We’ve all seen the statistics, we know people with histories of mental illness are more likely to be injured or killed in police interactions compared to those who don’t have that history.”
Those risks are higher when you add on intentionality, she added. That’s why they included diverse community partners.
Other scenarios include one with an Indigenous person who is hearing voices, and a youth in transition. The latter scenario was inspired by a ride-along Lavoie did with another police service. An officer responded to a youth, who was transitioning, and who said they wanted to die. The officer didn’t know how to use correct pronouns or interact with that person, she said.
Hamilton police have been a leader in developing programs to deal with mental-health calls, including COAST, the mobile rapid crisis response team, the social navigator program and the new rapid intervention support team (RIST). These programs involve partnerships with community agencies to deal with people who are homeless, suffer from mental illness and have addictions.
Last year, Hamilton police responded to 5,718 mental health crisis calls. Each year about 75 officers go through the intensive crisis intervention training, where police have added the virtual reality program. Sgt. Pete Wiesner, of the crisis response branch, said police would like to expand the number of officers trained. He’s also hopeful the VR training scenarios could be used by officers for continued mental-health training.
Years ago, if an officer wasn’t a good shot they could join the shooting club. Now, emphasis is not on shooting, but on communication skills, he said.
“Communication is the medication that we need,” Wiesner said.
Typically in crisis training, actors are brought in to do scenarios. Wiesner said he finds the VR experience much more realistic because you’re immersed in the scenario without being able to see people watching you.
“This training is definitely going to enhance everybody’s contact with people on the street,” he said. “And I think it will allow everybody to have a better, softer sense when dealing with people in crisis.”
The virtual reality scenarios are controlled by the trainer and they can be paused mid-scenario. For instance, if an officer pulled out his gun or ordered Jamie to the ground when Jamie grabbed a bat, they could pause and ask why.
Lavoie says that the officer might say that they were threatened because they were close to Jamie. So when the officer goes back into the scenario the next time they might want to take a couple steps back and stay in the doorway — like Const. Woods did during the demonstration.
Out of the six scenarios ready so far, half are 90-minute exercises. The other half are 10-minute assessment scenarios, in which a trainee can be tested and scored.
Ultimately, the real measure of success will be fewer use-of-force incidents or injuries, Lavoie said.
The virtual reality is licensed for all municipal and First Nations police services across Ontario. Hamilton was the first to implement it for training, but Lavoie says others have expressed interest. She hopes it will help lead to standardized crisis responses across the province.