| Firearms Simulation Training comes to Williams County |
| 2/22/2006 |
|
A police officer pulls over a vehicle and the man who gets out
threatens him, noting that he has a gun and a permit. His hands are in
his jacket pockets.
In a threatening tone, he asks the officer if he wants to see the gun.
Then he whips out his hands, pointing them at the officer as if he had
a weapon though he doesn't.
Should the officer have fired or not?
That's just one of the many scenarios available to officers for
practice over the next three days through virtual reality based
scenario training with a Firearms Training System (FATS).
Mike Webber, instructor with the University of Findlay School of
Environmental and Emergency Management Center for Terrorism
Preparedness, has brought the system for use by Williams County
Sheriff's Office, Bryan police, and the Multi-Area Narcotics Task Force
for realistic training of their officers. The simulator consists of a wide screen, a projector, computer, and several actual firearms that have been hollowed out and their components replaced with a sophisticated laser. It also has an air gun pointing back at the officer taking part in the training. The projector shows a real movie, of sorts, that is controlled by an operator who decides how those shown in the movies will react depending on how the officer taking the training acts. The operator can have the suspects on the screen surrender or attack, depending on how the officer communicates with them, allowing for numerous possible scenarios. The laser in the weapon being used sends a beam to the screen to register where the laser is pointing and if it hits the "target" when the weapon is fired. The computer indicates hits during the replay by color: red is a fatal hit, yellow is a non-lethal hit, and green is a miss. Also during replay, where the trainee is pointing the weapon can be noted at all times. Mr. Webber noted that the system is not mainly for use as target practice but as a way to prepare officers for different situations and instruct them in communications in such situations. Each scenario is fairly open-ended and they are not black and white. It's to help an officer decide when to shoot in a given situation. Mr. Webber uses weapons that resemble as closely as possible the weapons of the training officers. Locally, he uses a Baretta. "They're real weapons that are received from the manufacturer and retrofitted to shoot a laser," Mr. Webber said. "They work exactly like the weapons except for the fact that it shoots a laser." The weapon has actual working mechanisms to simulate shoving the clip home and cocking the automatic weapon or shotgun. The operator of the program can program the number of rounds that the weapon will shoot and the number of clips that the officer carries. He can also program jams, forcing officers to react if something goes wrong with their sidearm. "The trainer will make the training as realistic as possible," Mr. Webber said. "The thinking is, you're going to behave in a real situation according to how you prepare for that event. We want to make it as realistic as possible so that when the officer encounters a similar situation on the road, hopefully he's going to react appropriately. The system has an automatic handgun, shotgun, assault rifle, taser, and even OC Spray (pepper spray). Weapon action is simulated with compressed air, causing the automatic weapons to actually kick as they "reload." The system also has a separate air gun aimed at where the perspective trainee stands. This can shoot cork "bullets" at a speed of 200 feet per second. "Every time the person on the screen shoots, the operator can shoot at the officer," Mr. Webber said. "The thinking is, if the officer doesn't take cover, there's a chance he's going to be hit by one of those balls. Just like in life." According to Mr. Webber, it adds realism and shows the officer the necessity of taking cover. The gun is stationary but if there are two trainers, the other trainer can actually use it to shoot at the officer. Mr. Webber said they can make their own scenarios and actually prepare scenarios specific to the situation needed by the law enforcement office, for instance, a courtroom situation. He said there were over 200 scenarios dealing with numerous situations: mental illness, domestic violence, drunks, and even S.W.A.T. scenarios. This week, Mr. Webber is training instructors and then leaving the system in Bryan for four days. Officers will train on it 24 hours a day for that time. "It's the only way I know that we can put officers through training that is as real-to-life as possible," Williams County Sheriff Kevin Beck said. He noted that sending the 52 officers to training would be cost prohibitive. With the system, officers on all shifts can be sent to train while on the job. Some off the scenarios that were played out Tuesday included the one in the first paragraph above, two shooters in a school, a boy in a library with a knife, a domestic with a man holding a gun, a suicide threatening himself, hostage situations with police officers, pursuing a runaway drug dealer carrying a weapon, and a man who pulls a shotgun out of a car. By ANDY MILLER Times City Editor andy@bryantimes |
