Orlando police new training program immerses officers in different scenarios

ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando police have a new training program that immerses officers into different scenarios with the public.

This comes as police departments are in the spotlight across the country.

Channel 9 reporter Megan Cruz got to try out the program first-hand.

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She was outfitted with all the standard issue equipment, then she stepped inside an area with five 4K screens.

The simulator has about 300 different scenarios for officers to work through, and characters respond based on interactions.

Cruz’s scenarios included a potential active shooter, an emotionally-disturbed person and a husband in a domestic violence situation.

Orlando police said the scenarios are based on calls that happened around the country.

“Additionally, we have a separate computer system that allows us to create our own scenarios,” Officer Paul Evancoe said. “So we can take any panoramic photo. For example, we can do this training building from the outside and we can create a scenario with their characters and actors that are already in the system.”

The Orlando Police Department got the system about two weeks ago for $250,000.

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So far four officers have been trained on it. The department plans to train all of its officers by the end of the year.

It would supplement other training officers already receive.

“It’s not going to replace any training that we do. It will add to it as supplemental training,” Evancoe said.

Cox Media Group