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By Jesse O’Brien for Police1 BrandFocus
Survey data shows that the use of technology and better training are among the top concerns listed by law enforcement personnel. Technology and training, when used properly, can reduce workload and improve policing. One agency is using virtual reality to address both concerns.
According to The NES-LE, 63% of law enforcement officers say technology helps them do their jobs more effectively. (UW-Madison Police Department/Facebook)
National Personnel Survey for Law Enforcement (NES-LE) by Polko It’s an internal review that examines how police and sheriff’s office employees view their jobs. NES-LE Police investigation It gives agencies insight into the successes and pain points in their department, and shows law enforcement personnel what’s most important to them doing their jobs successfully.
According to the national results, 95 percent of officers said training, such as coping techniques, crisis and mental health management were their top concerns. And 89% said the use of technology, such as drones and more lethal electrical devices, was the second biggest concern.
“Technological advances in law enforcement are creating new ways for local governments to improve community safety more efficiently and effectively,” said Michelle Kobayashi, vice president at Innovation. Polko. “We’re seeing more agencies experiment with new technology.”
Virtual reality training
The Wisconsin-Madison Police Department recently implemented virtual reality training into its program, adding scenario training during recess. Retired Training Police Officer Stewart Bollweg and Juan Avila led the UWPD night shift patrol lieutenant project at the time. Avila said training based on real-life scenarios typically has a lot of downtime between teams. That’s when officers get a chance to use VR.
the system, In the spring, contains several conditions. Agencies can choose where they want to focus their training.
In VR, “we have the ability to do traffic stops, do active shooter scenarios, shoot/shoot scenarios,” Avila said. But most of the focus was on communicating back and forth; [practice] Escalation, and make that connection with other people on the screen who can talk back to you when you give orders.
When purchasing VR, UWPD was able to build its own custom environment that mimics a real-life location. Avila and his team sent images and videos of a nearby hospital psychiatric ward for VR mapping. UWPD chose to replicate this position because of the inherent communication challenges associated with responding to a person experiencing a mental health crisis. As NES-LE revealed, this is a major concern for agencies across the US.
The purpose of the simulation is for officers to de-escalate a patient who needs to be taken to a mental health facility, but refuses to go. Unlike other VR systems, the characters interact and respond to the authority’s words and actions.
If the officer is unable to contact the patient, the situation escalates and the officer may use a weapon such as pepper spray, a flashlight, a baton, a TASER, or a handgun. After the simulation, they debrief on what happened, how it could be improved, and what went well.
Lt. Juan Avila helped implement Spearhead VR training at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Police Department. (Courtesy/Polco)
How law enforcement can benefit from technology.
“You can see the officers taking the feedback and taking the training seriously,” Avila said. “They applied it on the street and now they have the same issues as they did in training. It worked for us,” he said.
Avila said officers recently had to speak to a suicidal patient in the hospital’s psychiatric unit. The VR training is directly related to the real life situation.
Agencies creating custom status can choose to make it public. Doing so would allow another agency with VR to use custom maps, which is useful because mapping is expensive. It costs $50,000 to set up the program. Not every agency is willing to pay extra for this or a new custom map. But prioritizing technology spending may be worth it for some agencies.
According to The NES-LE, 63% of law enforcement officers say technology helps them do their jobs more effectively. Today, many agencies are short-staffed and under-resourced to meet increasing mental health concerns. While technology cannot replace the value of a human officer, it can connect and de-escalate the situation, using technology as a complementary tool, as UWPD has done, can alleviate some of that stress.
“Our research shows that training and technology are two things that officers value the most,” Kobayashi said. “Agencies that align their priorities with these needs are likely to be more successful.”
Read next: Struggling to recruit and retain officers? Find out how these police leaders are changing the tide
About the author
Jesse O’Brien is Polco’s copywriter.
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