Cops sharpen skills through high-tech training simulator
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SPANISH FORT, Alabama (WALA) — Police in Spanish Fort spent the last week going through specialized training to prepare its officers for whatever’s thrown at them.
The Firearms Training System (FATS) has been around for more than a decade but is reprogrammed regularly with updated training scenarios. The simulated training exercise puts officers through real-life scenarios that can be manipulated and changed on the fly. They’re armed with a sidearm and taser that are as realistic as you can get.
“Back up. Mam, I need you to back up now!” officer Meredith Killian yelled at the wall-sized video screen.
Killian’s first simulation put her on the scene of a disturbance where she finds a woman acting erratically and threatening others with a knife. After getting bystanders to move away, Killian is forced to use her taser when the suspect wouldn’t drop her knife and moved aggressively towards her.
Watching Killian go through the exercise were her firearms instructors and her Chief. The immediate feedback she gets from them is an important part of the training process.
“It’s a learning process,” Killian said. “Like, one person might react one way and another a different way and so, when you listen to how each person might handle a situation, it makes you think, okay, maybe you’re right. I need to handle this that way, or I should have done this at this moment.”
Killian’s next scenario was a tough one. Three students were being held at knifepoint at a school library. Since the students’ lives were threatened, Killian drew her sidearm and tried to deescalate the situation. This time, she was forced to act. In this case, a student was stabbed before she could take out the bad guy. It’s unfortunate but about as real as you can get, and it happened very quickly.
“Right, and then the fear of if you’re making the right decision or the wrong decision,” Killian said. “You’re in that situation and so many things are going through your mind.”
Spanish Fort Police Chief John Barber said that’s the point of this training. It allows officers to experience the emotions and the adrenalin of having to make split-second decisions. He said managing stress while responding to calls can make all the difference in the outcome.
“It’s kind of stressful. You have your peers and sometimes I’m in here, so your boss is in here watching you, but our job is something stressful. Our job puts us in difficult situations so that’s a good thing. You want them a little bit stressed when you’re coming in here, feel that tension and then make them react,” Barber explained.
Barber requested the training simulator months ago because he’s seen how effective it can be through his time with the Mobile Police Department, which has its own FATS. He said it’s just by chance this training is happening at the same time the nation is focused on another death where the actions of a police officer are brought to question.
“It’s something that we even thought about well ahead of that incident that occurred a week ago,” Barber said. “We have to constantly strive to push our officers to do better and so, with the things that are going on nationally, whatever we can do.”
From domestic disturbances to hostage situations, Barber hopes the training will sharpen his officers’ decision-making process.
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