FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The Fayetteville Police Department attended Tuesday’s Fayetteville City Council meeting and discussed the approval of purchasing a new virtual reality simulator to train officers. They have been utilizing virtual reality since 2011.
“I do believe that it provides not only a safe but a controlled environment for officers to practice what they'll be responding to in critical incident scenarios,” said Fayetteville Police Chief Mike Reynolds. “This training solution certainly has helped prepare our officers for the emotional realities of the volatile situations. And certainly, the ultimate goal for us is always going to be de-escalation when possible.”
However, Reynolds says that their current system from 2011 is outdated, “It limits our training capabilities with only just a few options for some prerecorded scenarios. So as you can imagine, our officers become familiar with that, and they also become desensitized to it as well. It's similar to watching a movie over and over again, you kind of learn the lines and you know what the next act is going to be."
Reynolds explained to the city council that it would improve officers overall performance.
“This system also allows up to three officers, unlike our current system, which only allows one officer in each scenario, and they're able to interact with not only victims and suspects, but also other people that might be in crisis as well,” said Reynolds.
Along with that it would allow officers to feel pulses when touched or injured in scenarios and instructors could monitor officer’s heart rates during and after situations.
Not just officers would get to use this system, as they want to use it for outreach .
“This system also allows for our community and you as council members to have an immersive experience into a variety of scenarios and decision-making that our officers have to do within a split second as well,” said Reynolds.
The department will use a grant awarded from the Arkansas Department of Public Safety for $100,000 of the project. They will use budgeted law enforcement funds for the rest of the $16,499.61 balance.
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