Danbury Police explore virtual reality in officer training

DANBURY — Virtual reality isn’t part of Danbury police training, but it could be.

Technology and weapons development company Axon Network showed staff at Danbury Police Headquarters on Thursday how virtual reality and simulator technology can better prepare officers for complex situations that require critical thinking and a de-escalation.

“It’s really, really realistic,” Mayor Dean Esposito said after trying out one of Axon’s training modules.

After donning a virtual reality headset, Esposito was twice immersed in a scenario involving a schizophrenic man – first from the man’s point of view, then from the point of view of an off-duty policeman encountering him.

Virtual reality is one of the latest products Axon is working on to improve policing, as well as officer and community safety. The company started making stun guns in 1993 as Taser International, then moved to body cameras in the mid-2000s.

Axon senior regional manager Mark Swenson said police departments don’t get enough training, but virtual reality equipment and simulation technology can help “bridge the gap between what agents get and what they don’t get”.

Danbury police are equipped with Axon body cameras, but the department hasn’t purchased the company’s virtual reality and simulation technology — not yet.

“If it can fit in the budget,” Chief Patrick Ridenhour said, adding that incorporating virtual reality could improve officer training.

Clint Collins, Axon solutions specialist and former law enforcement officer, agreed that training in virtual reality and simulation technology can lead to better results than relying on traditional training methods such as classroom instruction and role play.

Traditional methods are time-consuming, limited, expensive and unrealistic, Collins said, but people trained using virtual reality tend to retain information better than those who don’t.

“VR is the solution for effective police training,” he said, adding that the retention rate among VR users is around 80%.

Collins said the immersion of virtual reality makes a difference because it “creates a memory”.

In addition to reinforcing situational learning objectives and de-escalation tactics, virtual reality can help officers hone their skills on the range and practice de-escalation techniques.

With simulator training, the goal is to prepare officers to make informed split-second decisions, Collins said, adding that “thinking proactively instead of reacting” can prevent escalation.

Simulation modules, like the one Esposito tried on Thursday, give agents the chance to practice responding to different types of calls — from those involving people with mental or cognitive disabilities to agent-in-crisis situations. and situations of domestic violence.

Danbury Police Officer and Crisis Response Team Coordinator Peter Elste said virtual reality technology could help officers and the community.

“The CIT team, we respond to crisis situations every day – people with depression, mania, homelessness – even things that aren’t in our wheelhouse,” he said.

Esposito said he supports the investment in virtual reality training equipment and technology for the Danbury Police Force.

“The goal is to give you the best workout possible. It protects you and protects the community,” he said. “I support that 100%.”