VR Helps Police Train for Active-Shooter Scenarios

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) is using virtual reality (VR) to help train officers for active-shooter scenarios.

In April, about 200 officers from NYPD's patrol level, Counterterrorism Bureau, and Emergency Service Unit participated in a test of the technology in which they moved through a virtual version of the city's National September 11 Memorial.

The VR system increased the number of times each group of trainees could practice in a certain scenario from three to about 30. “That's important because that's repetition, that's exposure, and that's also more problems and more critical thinking that the officer has to deal with,” said NYPD Detective Raymond McPartland. “At no point do they get accustomed to one version of a problem, because we can change it on a whim."

From Government Computer News
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