In the midst of this country’s controversy with police brutality, Virtra, a Tempe-based company, provides innovative training to improve officers’ situational awareness.
The training simulator uses a 300-degree field of view and situational awareness on screens to develop issues for the police officers to respond to.
The weapons used for the training range from the police standard pistol (a glock) to the military-grade automatic weapon the M249. The simulator also provides recoil after weapons are fired and shock technology for when the user has been hit.
Scott DiIullo, Virtra’s federal law enforcement business developer, is a former police officer of more than 20 years, and he advocates for the technology to be used more in police training.
“We need a lot more training on the mental aspect of it, the decision making part of the use of those weapons,” DiIullo said. “With these simulators, now we can focus more on decision making under high-stressed situations.”
Virtra’s increased call to action came after 9/11. After those events, Virtra realized the need for situational training to be emphasized by law enforcement.
“You couple that with these high-stressed, what we call fear responses, and then trying to make sound decisions under those encounters is what we can train with these simulators,” DiIullo said. “That’s what’s been lacking.”
Disclaimer: This video may be too violent for some viewers.
Andrew Clemency, a professor at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, thinks that this is an effective way to train young officers, who are often targeted for poor situational awareness.
“I bet a lot of young officers who have done video gaming and are familiar with technology would be very open to doing a 20 hour training course like that,” Clemency said. “It’s basically like a video game.”
This technology has the potential to be just as beneficial as the old school shooting ranges, Clemency said.
“They just have to be reasonable with it, and not expect everything to be perfect after the first go around,” Clemency said. “I think it is a great technology.”
Virtra is now partnered with over 200 police departments nationwide and seeks to continue spreading its technology in the future.
The V-300 version of Virtra’s simulators doesn't just focus on the physical reactions of officers, but also on verbal reactions, which is a key factor in avoiding a dangerous situation, criminology graduate student Natalie Todak said.
Todak’s dissertation for her Ph.D. will allow her to study eight police officers who were voted by their peers as being the best de-escalators in violent situations.
“At this point, I can see that the nominated officers have had hostage negotiation training, so the focus is on verbal communication skills, and on officers that are quick to start with words,” Todak said. “And I think that that is the best solution that we should be working on.”
As far as the country being educated on police brutality matters, it’s important not to let the media be the main source of education, Todak said.
“It’s pretty impossible for someone who hasn’t done it before to make a full decision for what it will be like,” she said. “So generally speaking, I would say police officers are having it pretty tough.”
CORRECTION: A previous version of this article incorrectly spelled the name of Scott DiIullo. This version of the article has been updated with the correct information.
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Police brutality protests decline, ASU students say issue still important
Reach the reporter at jpmorri5@asu.edu or follow @jp_morris35
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