The National Police Agency (NPA) has finished installing Taiwan’s first virtual reality (VR) police training systems at seven police departments and institutions across Taiwan to prepare police officers for tense situations in the line of duty.
The VR systems were installed at the New Taipei, Taoyuan, Kaohsiung, and Chiayi County police departments, and the Railway Police Bureau, the Taiwan Police College, and the First Police Special Corps 6th Corps by the end of last year at a cost of NT$45 million (US$1.47 million), according to the agency.
While some local police forces had acquired augmented-reality (AR) immersive police training systems under a special project launched in 2020, the VR training systems are the first of their kind in Taiwan and offer new training features, the NPA said.
They require users to wear headsets, while the AR systems, which use projection screens, do not, enabling the simulation of different settings, including karaoke bars, concourses, train carriages and checkpoints.
Through such simulations, officers are trained to be more aware of their surroundings, while being given the opportunity to practice their skills and become more familiar with situations requiring them to use weapons, improving their performance in a crisis, the NPA said.
Trained officers can be primed for a wide range of scenarios, such as when facing provocations, threats, attempts to flee, or attacks from a suspect, in which they have to respond quickly and appropriately, the NPA said.
The system also enables officers to simulate talking with suspects, choosing from different types of police weapons and deciding when to fire their gun, and even has a “multiple players” mode in which multiple officers can train at the same time to provide “backup” for their colleagues.
The renewed emphasis on training for police officers to handle unexpected situations or crises came after the death of railway police officer Lee Cheng-han (???).
Lee was stabbed to death in 2019 at the Taiwan Railways Administration (TRA) Chiayi Station by a mentally ill passenger riding without a ticket who had gotten into an altercation with the conductor before Lee was called to the scene.
Former NPA Director-General Chen Ja-chin (???) said in 2020 that in the wake of Lee’s death, the NPA was given a budget of NT$480 million to procure and install situational simulation shooting ranges around Taiwan to train police officers’ ability to make quick and sound judgments while discharging their duties.
The NPA said it intends to purchase more VR training systems to install at other police departments and institutions, and to ask instructors to help create virtual settings based on past missions that will make the training more realistic and broaden its scope.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel