Portland VA Police are “Virtually” Paving the Future of Training

Law Enforcement Officers will all tell you that one of the hardest aspects of their career is problem solving on the fly – gaining real world experience and confidence through time on the job, dangerous situations, or their own mistakes. Officers must often make split second decisions in circumstances where mistakes can certainly be costly to all involved.  

Now imagine a world in which officers can be taken and placed directly into the above-mentioned circumstances yet no one is at harms risk. That is exactly what Portland VA Police are doing with “V-Armed,” a highly innovative, fully immersive virtual reality training system that allows them to learn from their mistakes and repeat those high stress situations hundreds of times to develop a variety of ways to reduce and/or eliminate a greater number of costly results. VA Portland Police are the first (and currently only) VA Police service to utilize this system and are one of the only Law Enforcement Agencies in the region to do so.

How it Works

Information courtesy of V-Armed:
First, officers step into an indoor training range equipped with virtual reality headsets and training weapons. From there, they use realistic 3D animation technology to create an immersive training environment that presents real-time scenarios testing their ability to make the right call when actions need to be determined and taken in a matter of seconds. Up to 10 trainees can fully engage with each other and the environment simultaneously in the system which captures everything head-to-toe so officers can train and enforce service policies.

There are fully customizable scenarios and locations, a wide variety of trackable weapons in a completely wireless configuration, and the system utilizes “After Action Replay” which exposes every detail of trainee performance so supervisors can review and perfect each officer’s response no matter the situation. This is quite the technological leap from the previous police simulator training system that relied on projector screens. The older system did not offer the kind of real-time interactions that aim to improve training efficiency and effectiveness, and allow for de-escalation tactics and improved communication skills between VA Portland Police officers. 
 

“In this virtual world each officer’s confidence of actions, while on display and for review, teaches them to manage their specialized skills of de-escalation techniques, the aspect of proportionality/reasonableness involving use of force, empathy, and professionalism,” says Lieutenant Michael Geier, Portland VA Police Service Training Coordinator. “This is our newest advantage helping to train our most seasoned VA Police officers, and our new hires, to build and maintain the trust in the people they’ve sworn to serve and protect.”

Lt Geier also noted that the simulator, located on the Vancouver VA Medical Center campus, gives officers unlimited access to on-site learning and research with no added cost usually associated with travel, work- life balance, or outside resources, and that, 

“Through this powerful investment, positivity, and the support of our VA stakeholders, Portland VA Police will reap the benefits, build their confidence, and be prepared to provide the utmost care for Veterans and VA Portland Health Care System staff for many years to come.”

The VA Police are the armed and uniformed federal law enforcement service of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). VA Police are responsible for the protection of VA Medical Centers (VAMCs) and other facilities such as Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs), Health Care Centers (HCCs), annexes, and other facilities operated by VA. Their primary role is to deter and stop crime, keep order, and investigate crimes that may have happened within the legal authority of the VA.