NCJ Number
175822
Journal
Police: The Law Enforcement Magazine Volume: 22 Issue: 6 Dated: June 1998 Pages: 30-33
Date Published
1998
Length
4 pages
Annotation
Training products are available for police officers that use a combination of laser, video, and computer technologies, and provide a high degree of realism through real-life scenarios that test shooting and judgment skills.
Abstract
The FATS (Firearms Training Systems) involves simulated trainers and is used in 34 countries, and about 800 systems are currently used by law enforcement agencies. The FATS is composed of a primary computer, a laser disc player, a projection screen, and laser-modified weapons. Each disc contains prerecorded scenarios that branch from one action to another, depending on the level of difficulty set by the trainer and on how the police officer being tested responds to the threat being presented. Trainees are equipped with tethered, laser-modified weapons, and legal and nonlethal strike zones are invisibly outlined on the screen. Instead of relying on a laser disc system, digital video and audio components of the Judgmental Shooting Simulator (JSS 3000) run at 30 frames per second, allowing for real-time reactions and seamless branching of scenarios. The interactive, branching scenarios include such situations as night stops, drug deals, hostage situations, and armed robberies. The level of danger in a scenario can be varied, and the JSS 3000 also has the ability to record and store each police officer's performance for later study and review. Custom training scenarios are part of the Range 2000 system, a system with fully digitized audio and video and complete multimedia capabilities built in. This system is flexible and easy to use and runs off Windows 95. The Range 2000 system is not a firearms trainer; rather, it is a judgment trainer in the use of force. The Professional Range Instruction Simulator (PRISim) is an advanced interactive system with a unique shoot-back feature that actually fires projectiles at police officers as they go through the scenarios. 7 references and 4 photographs