Training Simulator At FWPD Gives Life-Saving Lesson
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FORT WORTH (CBS11) - The police training simulator the Fort Worth Police Department uses, sits on a sound stage in their training center with screens surrounding the officer. It's no game.
With a trainer at the controls, it interacts with officers and it gives them real world options without pulling the trigger.
"Hey, man! Come over here and talk to me," the officer yelled at a the video of a guy who's manhandling a woman who is supposed to be a prostitute on drugs.
He is surrounded on all sides with images of a small neighborhood, a gravel road, part of a backyard and clothes lines.
It's called the Judgment Trainer.
"I got this, man!" the actor on the screen tells back to the officer. "Go away!"
It's an immersive simulator, surrounding the officer with 300 degrees of HD video. The computer gives the officer a wide range of ways to handle the situations.
"The beauty of this system is the branching," said Lt. Bryan Jamison who operates the trainer as part of the department's enhanced skills training.
Each situation allows the scene to branch into a different direction depending, in part, on how the officer handles what is going on. It's not just a shoot/don't shoot trainer.
"They can surrender, they can comply with the officers commands, they can give marginal resistance," Lt. Jamison said.
In one scene, an motorist upset that an officer pulled him over suddenly reaches in his car and quickly whips out a cellphone.
"I'm going to call my lawyer!" the motorist yells.
Many officers learn a hard lesson when they shoot the motorist.
Trying it myself, my heart raced and adrenaline was pumping -- exactly what the trainers want.
"This is real world training," Lt. Jamison said. "This is not Romper Room.
"It's almost invaluable because it allows us to create a realistic environment that the officers may face in their daily duties."
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