Windsor police use virtual reality to improve de-escalation skills

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There is an excited man in the bus waiting area.

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He speaks repeatedly, uttering obscene language. his breathing is heavy. He randomly runs into the walls of the shelter. He pulls a coffee-stained shirt.

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You try to understand what he is saying amidst the sounds of traffic. A vehicle passes by.

I just got out of the police car. How would you approach the situation? what do you say?

The wrong tone of voice, the wrong words, the wrong action, and the man ran out into the busy street, endangering himself and everyone around him.

Not an optimal performance, cop.

Fortunately, the disturbed man — whose name is Umar — is not a real person. He is a character in the virtual reality environment of Windsor Police’s newest training tool.

This year, Windsor Police became one of the first law enforcement agencies in Ontario to adopt virtual reality mental health crisis response training. This is a program developed by the educational software company Lumeto for the Attorney General’s Office.

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Adam Karpenko, an instructor in the Constant WPS training branch, says the program “relies heavily on techniques to reduce escalation. Slow things down and build rapport with subjects.”

As part of the program, trainees put on VR goggles and use hand controllers to enter a digitally constructed world and deal with different scenarios.

Umar’s predicament is one of several situations currently available in the program, based on real events.

Karpenko can control Umar’s actions while the trainee is in the scenario. Raises or lowers the character’s agitation level, depending on the officer’s decision.

Make the best choices and Umar will respond quickly and comply. Acting carelessly, Umar can become aggressive, self-harm, or flee into traffic.

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“Umar is in a mental health crisis,” Karpenko said. “But there can be crime here too.”

The trainee’s performance in the scenario is assessed and scored for demonstrating “crisis skills” such as active listening, humanizing the encounter, calming body language, and use of non-stigmatizing language. will be

Officers dealing with Umar in the best possible way are that he is an autistic individual employed at a nearby cafe, and that the abusive behavior of a group of young customers is due to his childhood bullying trauma. You may find that you have triggered an emotional episode.

Windsor Police Const. Together with Karpenko, Nick Long, the program’s certified instructor, proves the practicality and realism of the training.

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A member of the WPS Mobile Crisis Rapid Response Team and a Registered Nurse, Long has extensive experience working with people going through mental health crises.

Long says the first time he tried one of the program’s scenarios, “it felt real.”

“I was doing what I do on a real call,” Long said.

Kalpenko said the scenario was “not toned down at all” from what a cop might encounter on the job.

For example, there is a phrase repeated by Umar that contains offensive terms for the mentally ill. That’s what the café’s bully customers called him.

“It’s not a G designation,” Karpenko said. “There’s abuse there. There’s violence, there’s drugs, because that’s what we see as police.”

VR scenarios are just one component of the program. The trainee participates in a guided discussion and watches a video of his lesson before touching the goggles.

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The videos provide informative reenactments of the encounters, with follow-up commentary from law enforcement practice experts, mental health crisis management experts, and even individuals with lived experience in mental health situations. increase.

For example, Umar’s lesson plans include commentary from a man diagnosed with autism.

In fact, Karpenko believes one of the Lumeto program’s biggest advances isn’t the introduction of VR technology, but the standardization of police training to recognize and respond to mental health crises.

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“[Before this]we had limited resources,” says Karpenko. “It was based on what we experienced or what we heard from other police services. It wasn’t a standardized platform.”

“This program will ensure that police officers across the state, and eventually across the country, will receive the same training.”

Windsor Police began looking into using VR in January last year, said Chris Werstein, Staff Sergeant of the WPS Training Division.

Since then, Windsor Police have fully committed to integrating the program into their mandatory training.

Werstein said all WPS officers devote time to the program at least once a year as part of their annual in-service training.

“Additionally, every new officer we hire will get this before they go to work,” said Werstein.

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This program is provided to Windsor Police at no additional cost. Werstein said all necessary equipment and his resources online are provided by the Ontario Attorney General’s Department.

Werstein noted that trying to achieve similar training without VR would be prohibitively expensive. “We need a physical set and we need to hire actors,” he said.

“This program allows officers to learn and practice again and again, and at zero cost to Windsor Police.”

Insp. Jennifer Crosby, who oversees Patrol Support for Windsor Police, believes in the benefits of VR training.

“As far as de-escalation techniques are concerned, anything you can add to your training toolbox will work,” says Crosby.

When asked if she felt the Lumeto program could change the way Windsor police respond to events like the August 15th incident, Crosby said the mentally unhealthy man said he aggressively approached a police officer with a machete and was fatally shot as a result.

“Police officers have to deal with what they face,” said Crosby. “These[VR situations]are still static.[The instructor]can control the environmental factors in her VR, but it’s not the real world.

“But it’s a good option for training. We’ve always worked on defensive tactics, firearms. But this is cutting-edge technology and a complete learning experience.”

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