Improving public safety with VR for law enforcement agencies
Axon wanted to develop an all-in-one virtual reality training platform for law-enforcement. Axon VR empowers trainees to practice their skills, give verbal commands, and make split-second decisions, including drawing training firearms. This immersive training is helping officers build confidence that will serve them in real-world scenarios.
Primary goals
Build an immersive training simulation
Decentralize training with easy-to-deploy wireless technology that can be used anytime, anywhere, without large time or space constraints. Leverage VR to simulate real-life scenarios officers will face.
Improve trainee performance and confidence
Combine real TASER 7 weapons, real-time trainer feedback and analytical results to ensure every officer gets the most up-to-date and consistent training every time.
Decrease training costs
Traditional police training can be time-consuming and expensive. Axon wanted to create a realistic training that officers can repeat as many times as necessary, with no added expense.
Portable, accessible, repeatable training for law enforcement
Training has never been more important in law enforcement. It takes constant training for public safety officers to perform at their best, but not all training is equal. Traditional police training can be time-consuming, unrealistic, and expensive for most agencies. Axon VR changes that, with an all-in-one training platform that can be easily deployed anytime, anywhere — no PC, complex tracking equipment, or dedicated training space required.
Simulator Training enables trainees to practice and refine their skills during drills and increasingly complex scenarios. The ability to simulate real-life situations improves decision making and sharpens law enforcement’s capacity to make split-second decisions when the stakes are high.
Custom hardware integration
Bluetooth allows for the use of a custom VR-enabled cartridge that works inside of a duty weapon, a VR enabled Glock training firearm, and wrist trackers developed by HTC to improve accuracy of wrist tracking & orientation. This custom-made hardware allows trainees to train true-to-life by using the same devices as they would in the field.
Realistic training environment
VR allows users to "live" scenarios before they are encountered in the field. This can induce stress responses like those in the field, helping trainees build stronger muscle memory that can serve them in real scenarios.
Trainer tablet coaching
Throughout the entire platform, trainees have a trainer walking them through the scenarios and providing real-time feedback. Using a tablet, the trainer can control whether a trainee repeats a drill or advances to a new one. After-action reports stored provide performance and progress metrics, insight into an officer’s decisions, and new opportunities for coaching and program development.
Firing range training
To help trainees learn safe and effective deployment of weapons, we worked with Axon to create two levels of firing range training. In the basic scenario, trainees learn to operate TASER energy weapons and Glock training firearms in an indoor range, then practice their skills on stationary targets from varying distances to improve accuracy, speed, tactical knowledge and critical thinking skills.
Escalating complexity
In the intermediate scenario, trainees deploy the TASER 7 energy weapon from various distances on moving subjects in an outdoor, nighttime setting. This fast-paced exercise helps trainees utilize safety features, recognize proper spread and probe placement on moving subjects, and achieve higher accuracy when deploying TASER cartridges.
The impact
Axon VR represents the future of public safety training: immersive de-escalation training that is designed to make both communities and officers safer. By providing additional training, Axon can build an officer’s confidence in using TASER devices and work towards their mission of making the bullet obsolete.
