Picture this scenario: A police officer responds to a radio dispatch about suspicious after-hours activity in a warehouse facility. Flashlight in hand, he enters the building, and suddenly a man pops up from behind a desk. He gets agitated about the flashlight shining in his face and that the officer repeatedly asks for identification.
Suddenly he yells, “Here’s my identification,” and pulls something from his side.
The scenario is one of 550 that’s preloaded in a firearms simulator system recently purchased by the Acworth Police Department. City officials used drug money to buy the $40,000 interactive training system from TI Training, a Colorado-based company that specializes in instructive hardware and software.
When I read online about Acworth’s new training tool, I contacted Police Chief Wayne Dennard.
“I have two simple philosophies,” Dennard told me, “and they work well for us: Just spend time in the community and do what’s right. That pretty much covers it. We are not going to put up with excessive use of force. We don’t play those games. And we won’t. But there’s always room to grow.”
The firearms simulator allows you to have actual conversations with actors in the scenarios, just as police officers would on the streets. Only you interact through a projector screen. Everything’s authentic. The weapons are modified Glock 22s, an assault rifle and a shotgun. The system also uses non-lethal weapons.
Last Thursday, Dennard and Capt. Mark Cheatham demonstrated the system and allow me to experience it as well.
In one scenario, Dennard responded to a domestic disturbance. He approaches the front door and hears a woman scream. He looks through the window, where he encounters the husband, who turns and raises a shotgun towards the chief. The chief opens fire. A replay of the encounter pinpoints where three of Dennard’s shots landed.
My scenario was the lead to this column — the cop who encounters a man in a warehouse after hours. The man whips out what turns out to be a commercial stapler gun. He aims it as if it’s a weapon. I fire back, striking his kneecap.
Had these been actual training sessions, a debriefing would take place immediately thereafter.
“The real training happens after it is over, when we can sit down and evaluate what happens,” Cheatham said. “This classroom is a safe place to make mistakes. It’s a safe place to make mistakes and learn from. All these scenarios are not about an officer having to go out and kill somebody. They are about training officers on their day-to-day jobs, their responsibilities.”
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