New London Police Use New Virtual Reality Simulator for De-Escalation Training - NBC Connecticut

Putting connected a headset and strapping connected a backpack, New London constabulary officers stepped into a virtual satellite Friday. The immersive simulation brought the officers to the country of a home incident, a mock constabulary telephone that was designed to mimic existent life.

"Extremely intense, extremely," Officer Vibaldy Luna said arsenic helium took his virtual world headset off. "It is decidedly the closest happening to existent beingness that I’ve ever been in."

Using a national grant, the New London Police Department purchased a virtual world constabulary grooming simulator. The caller grooming instrumentality has respective benefits, according to the department's chief, but the main absorption of the simulator is to assistance amended de-escalation techniques.

“You person the accidental to spell done an acquisition without being successful an experience," said Chief Brian Wright. “It allows america to enactment connected de-escalation, but it besides comes into play with situation intervention, communications betwixt officers, arsenic good arsenic enactment connected tactical accomplishment sets and things of that nature.”

During the simulation, officers are dispatched to a call. A abstracted serviceman acts arsenic the relation and controls what happens during the simulation.

“For each simulation, determination is simply a motivation to the communicative each time. We are not conscionable dong random things. We are ever doing worldly that is applicable to what we acquisition successful New London," said Sgt. Matthew Cassiere.

The strategy uses 4 sensors to way the officers' movements on with the movements of their weapons, which are designed to replicate their existent weapons. They purpose to transportation retired the simulated calls arsenic they mightiness unfold successful existent life.

"So if thing akin does happen, you’ve had the accidental to enactment done it," said Chief Wright. "But, much importantly, we are capable to travel back, look astatine it, dissect it, and accidental however tin we bash better. Because this is simply a occupation wherever you ever privation to bash better.”

The state's constabulary accountability instrumentality tasks officers with engaging successful "reasonable de-escalation measures anterior to utilizing deadly carnal force." The NLPD says this grooming helps them execute that.

“This is fundamentally designed for de-escalation. That's the serviceman utilizing antithetic kinds of tactics -- interpersonal skills, talking to somebody, assemblage language," said Sgt. Cassiere. "Different means of de-escalating a idiosyncratic to fundamentally effort to get (the officers) to not person to usage force."

According to the chief, New London is the archetypal section successful Connecticut to usage this grooming system. Though, different departments successful the portion are invited to usage it arsenic well.