“See here, I’ve put a hostage in the room with the gangster,” he said as he demonstrated a scenario. “He has a gun, but I have to ask myself, ‘Do I shoot when there’s another person in the room?’”
The system has 15 scenes available, including schools, malls and apartment buildings, but the choices for creating and altering a scenario are unlimited and can evolve through a click of the mouse.
Because the simulator is able to create the natural unpredictability of a situation, students stay alert, allowing them to realistically respond to an emergency.
VICE contains 13 lanes, 12 for training and one for an experienced team leader.
Each training lane has a large screen that proves a one-direction view, surround sound, a replicated M-4 rifle with added toggles for direction steering and a computer that records all virtual activities.
The team leader’s lane contains the same components, with the exception of having three large screens placed side-by-side to give a 120-degree view.
The VICE headquarter station holds the computer that controls the simulations as well as 13 screens for instructors to monitor each person’s virtual activity.
Burgess, who is also a training instructor, said VICE enables students to emulate what they have learned in the classroom.
Although the students are working as a tactical team, each acts independently, which is recorded on the computer for playbacks. Students will be able to review their mistakes, allowing room for improvement.
Despite recent budget cuts, the training center received VICE through a $500,000 appropriation grant approved by the office of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher.
“We are very fortunate to be the only law enforcement training facility to have this state-of-the-art technology,” Burgess said.
The first class expected to use VICE will begin in September. Until then, Burgess said, local law enforcement agencies have already inquired about training on the simulator.
Burgess admits the machine isn’t perfect yet. He said there are some glitches that need to be fixed and program alterations that need to be done.
To maintain VICE, an estimated $900,000 is expected to be received in the next two years through grants. There will be no cost to use the simulator, said Ron Lowenberg, dean of the training center.
Funding to maintain VICE in the future will be necessary after the college stops receiving grants, but Lowenberg believes that a cost cannot be placed on the college’s involvement with the simulator.
“The value and opportunity that our training department will be able to do with this technology is priceless,” he said.
