Cape Fear Community College aims to save lives with a new virtual reality police training system.
The virtual training simulator, called VirTra, is designed to help basic law enforcement training (BLET) students improve how they respond to an active shooter, domestic violence, and other high-stress situations. It offers more than 200 different real-life scenarios such as a movie theater, courthouse, or a school campus and includes three large screens for a 180-degree engaging training environment.
The ending outcomes of the scenarios depend upon the actions and statements taken by the officer in real time, with multiple responses from on-screen persons. The simulator recreates psychological stressors, like an elevated heart rate and high levels of adrenaline, that officers experience during the intensive training.