NCJ Number
196904
Journal
Law Enforcement Technology Volume: 29 Issue: 9 Dated: September 2002 Pages: 104,106,107
Date Published
September 2002
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article discusses a training program that prepares police officers to use their duty weapons on an airplane.
Abstract
Advanced Interactive Systems (AIS) offers a solution to this problem with a multi-screen, use-of-force computer-simulated trainer designed to teach officers to deal with specific threats within the cabin of an aircraft. Every imaginable situation has been put on the simulator from minor problems to terrorist threats. AIS has provided interactive simulated training systems for law enforcement, security, and military agencies worldwide since 1993. State-of-the-art video production is combined with software engineering to create immersive real-life judgmental training scenarios. AIS systems are used in 32 countries and by police departments across the United States, the U.S. Border Patrol, and other Federal agencies. One of the main differences of the new system compared to the old is that the student trains in a 360-degree environment as opposed to the traditional 270-degree field of view. It simultaneously portrays the front and back of the aircraft, requiring trainees to remain aware of what’s going on both behind and in front of them. Students using this multi-screen training method quickly learn to be accountable for everything going on all around them. The scope of a 360-degree training environment can benefit officers in routine field operations as well as while flying armed. It is useful on vehicle stops, while executing search warrants and just about any other situation an officer faces. Scenarios have to be realistic and believable. The system’s scenarios use actual, untethered weapons and offer an optional instructor- or scenario-controlled ShootBack capability. The live-action scenes are changed or “branched” based on the actions taken by the trainee. This can take place automatically or can be instructor controlled. The scenarios are filmed in realistic environments on either a state-of-the-art aircraft or a flight simulator.