Improved Officer Decision-Making and Stress Management with Virtual Environments

The applicant proposes a two-year pilot study that will develop a framework for implementing low-cost, game-based, virtual reality (VR) technology for training police officers. Training vignettes will represent typical stressful scenarios that require rapid decision-making. The resulting framework will combine interactive gaming environments that automatically respond to a user’s actions virtually with low-cost tools for creating a highly realistic 3D environment to help the officer become more prepared to handle rapidly escalating encounters in the field. The training builds VR efforts regarding cognitive analysis of tasks, treating service members with PTSD, stress-resilience training, and teaching leadership interpersonal skills by role-playing with virtual humans. The applicant plans to implement the new VR scenarios into the Los Angeles Police Department training curriculum.

“Note: this project contains a research and/or development component, as defined in applicable law, “ and complies with Part 200, Uniform Requirements - 2 CFR, 200.210 (a) (14). CA/NCF