Simulator Mimics Stressful Calls Police May Get

CREST HAVEN – When a police officer responds to a call and enters into a potentially dangerous situation, all the natural human reactions to high levels of stress are present. 
Middle Township Police Chief Christopher Leusner noted Aug. 3, “We cannot eliminate those reactions to stress.” Add to the circumstances the potential need for split-second decisions and one will understand why Leusner and other county police commanders are turning to new training tools.
The Cape May County Police Academy recently had installed a state-of-the-art system that affords officers the closest approximation possible to not only what they may encounter in the field, but also how they will feel when they encounter it.
The basic concept is simple: Put officers into real-world situations in ways that mimic the stress they may experience in the field. The technology is anything but simple.
Cape May County has invested in the latest virtual reality training equipment to ensure that officers have the best possible training when they have to make those split-second decisions in the field.
Using a driving simulator and what they term a use of force simulator, the training center can now closely mimic real world scenarios in ways that help officers experience the physiological changes going on in them under stress.
“When they encounter stressful situations in the real world in which split-second decisions are necessary, we want them to have already experienced what that stress feels like,” said Leusner.
The equipment, a freeware advanced audio coder (FAAC) and the Milo firearms simulator, allow trainers at the academy to create environments that take an officer from the moment of receiving a call in a patrol car through the completion of a scenario where use-of-force decisions must be made.
In one demonstration, an officer in the FAAC drive simulator received a call to respond to a potential robbery in progress. The driving simulator, which mimics an actual patrol car including the variety of equipment and electronics, allowed the officer to respond to the scene receiving radio updates.
The officer who demonstrated the training activity exited the “car” and went on a treadmill to replicate the running he might have to do in the real-world situation.
“We are using the same muscle groups and replicating the same physiological changes as in a real situation,” said Academy Director Thomas DePaul.
The officer then entered a surround-sound theater environment that challenged him not just with what was in front of him, but also on all sides.
Multiple actors in the scenario must be tracked by the officer who is in a situation where he does not know who are the real suspects. “Everyone is a suspect until you have more information,” is a phrase heard more than once.
Instructors at a control console can then tweak the scenario responding to verbal commands given by the officer. In one scenario the suspect pulled a gun and fired. The officer returned fire.
The system will record where the officer’s shots hit or missed. The gun used is the same one the officer would normally carry minus the live ammunition.
At the session’s conclusion, the system went into a debrief mode where instructors could play back the scenario and the officer’s responses to offer comment on how a situation might have been handled better.
The fully-integrated system from the patrol car to one of hundreds of scenarios cost the county $275,000 with a portion covered by state grants.
Freeholder Vice-Director Leonard Desiderio, director of Public Safety, thinks it’s well worth the cost. “This system is just one more aspect to the training that helps ensure that when an officer goes to work each day, that officer comes home safe,” he said.
Cape May County is the first county in the state to have such a complete computer-integrated system.
DePaul noted that all municipal departments in the county would be able to schedule use of the system along with the Sheriff’s Department,  State Police, which provide coverage for many areas of the county, and Delaware River and Bay Authority Police Department, which provides security and law enforcement at the Cape May-Lewes ferry.
The simulation training will be fully a part of the curriculum with the new class that enters the academy in August. Also, current officers in county police departments will rotate in for exposure to the training environment.
The training will “make officers better prepared when they go out on the street,” said Leusner, president of the Cape May County Chiefs of Police Association.
The immersive, multiple screen environments had the adrenaline pumping for this reporter when he was allowed to try a scenario. His gun safety routines were non-existent, his aim poor and, most importantly, his immersion in the scenario was real.
A man with a gun, a hostage, a room full of innocent people with few of them responding to my verbal commands; it could have been real, and the lives at risk could have been those with families to go home to. The gun in his hand felt suddenly heavier.
He was lucky. The instructors at the console allowed the perpetrator to surrender his weapon. That certainly was not the only option in that dark scenario.
The reporter’s technique was bad enough that he elicited laughter during the debriefing, but as he joined in the merriment, the thought that was paramount in his mind was that of an officer confronted with the same, real world situation.
How does one prepare for that kind of rapid information processing and split-second decision making in situations in which the lives of others, as well as that of the officer, may hang in the balance?
How does one help that officer prepare for the rush of emotions and physiological changes that will instantly intrude on his decision making?
Instructors at the academy, armed with the latest technology to assist them, think they have a better answer to those questions today than they did a month ago.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.