VIRTUAL REALITY BRINGS PORTABLE TASER TRAINING TO POLICE

A combative man approaches, moving quickly toward a police officer who pulls out a Taser. The man is wearing a heavy jacket, which could mean the prongs that would generate an electronic current and send him to the ground might not work.

It’s a scenario that’s played out over and over for police officers across the U.S., sometimes with fatal consequences. The scenario was highlighted recently with the police shooting death of Patrick Lyoya, who was shot in the back of the head by an officer in Grand Rapids, Michigan, during a struggle after the officer tried to fire his Taser twice at Lyoya. Both times it was ineffective. Had it been effective it’s possible the incident would have ended then.

Axon, the company that is best known for developing the Taser, is expanding a virtual reality and immersive training program that is aimed at increasing training for officers with Tasers in life-like scenarios and making them comfortable with split second decisions, including where to fire the weapon’s prongs to incapacitate a suspect without needing to turn to deadly force.

Axon has grown to become one of the largest technology companies for police agencies in the U.S. and supplies departments large and small – including a majority of the largest forces in the nation – with Tasers and body cameras. The new training, being formally rolled out this week, is the latest in the company’s virtual reality programs and is coupled with other real-life training simulations, including responding to calls with people with Autism and domestic violence calls.