NEWS
SCHEDULE
David Cantrell
By Jackelyn Barnard First Coast News
BRUNSWICK, GA -- Last year, more than 50,000 federal agents and police officers went to the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, or FLETC, in Brunswick, Georgia, for training.
A part of that training now includes a state of the art simulation lab worth more than five million dollars.
The lab is made up of more than 40,000 square feet of ground breaking equipment.
A part of that equipment is a driving simulator. Twenty eight virtual reality cars are set up in the lab.
The cars have seat belts, keys to start them up. They have lights and sirens, radios, side mirrors, even a rearview mirror.
The cars can also adjust to what type of car an agent or officer drives. "We aren't actually teaching how to drive. We train that on the asphalt outside. We're teaching people here how to think. Building mental experiences so when they do see a similar situation when on patrol, they instinctually start making the corrective action," says David Cantrell, a simulation training specialist at FLETC.
The simulator has hundreds of scenarios to test officers so they make the right decision in a split second.
The simulator records all of the officers and agents actions. Once the exercise is complete a review of actions is done. Those at FLETC say this kind of training is important. Traffic crashes are the second leading cause of police officer deaths.
The driving simulators will soon be attached to a makeshift house.
That part of the lab is still being built, but soon officers will be able to jump from their virtual car into a virtual scene with guns drawn.
Another big part of the multi-million dollar simulation lab is a table-top convoy trainer called Ambush.
"How to do protection of a VIP. It could be for secret service. It could be for the military protecting their Generals. It could be for the State Department and all the VIPs in federal government we have to protect," says Mark Stoklosa, the simulation branch chief.
Each station in the table top lab has a role in protecting the VIP, from driving him to moving him to safety, even rescuing him.
Ambush trains federal agents and military folks to think about their decisions and just like the driving simulator, a replay of their decisions shows what was done right and what needs to happen during the real thing.
"This is priceless," says Stoklosa. The lab is only a couple of months old and is still a work in progress. Those who run it say it is worth every cent of the more than five million dollars it costs to build.
"If you mix virtual with reality you get a better product," says Cantrell.
Cantrell says the experience in the lab along with the training out on the course will make federal agents and police officers safer and better at their jobs.
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 Created: 5/9/2007 10:51:27 AM Updated: 5/10/2007 12:18:28 PM Suggest News Tips & Story Leads Submit Video & Pictures |
Jackelyn Barnard
