This month the Carbondale Police Department is beginning another round of Use of Force Training.
It allows police officers to use state of the art virtual reality software to simulate high-stress decision making during potential use of force encounters.
The City invested in the APEX OFFICER virtual reality training simulator and has been using it to help police officers practice techniques to de-escalate dynamic situations, identify body language that indicates a potential threat, improve officer communication and negotiating tactics, de-escalate potential violent behaviors and when necessary, use appropriate force to defend themselves or others.
CPD say the system allows the officers to deploy simulated firearms and tasers. The technology also includes the ability of the training officer to engage in dialogue with the officer in the simulator, creating realistic scenarios that are dependent on the officer’s decisions.
