Times Observer Photo by Brian Ferry Warren City Police Officer Wade Supa breaks down the door during a training event Wednesday at the Volunteer Fire Department in Youngsville. Training is provided collaboratively by Northern Pennsylvania Regional College and the Emergency Response Training and Certification Association.
There was a confrontation with a tough motorist who got out of his truck on a busy highway.
There was an active shooting incident at a school.
There was a house with a man armed with a baseball bat.
The VR exercise was brought to Warren County as a rural law enforcement training collaborative between Northern Pennsylvania Regional College (NPRC) and the State College Emergency Response Training and Certification Association (ERTCA) on Tuesday and Wednesday at the Youngsville Volunteer Fire Department.
The practice screen shows what Warren City Police Officer Alex Supa sees shooting a hostage taker in an active shooter scenario during a training event Wednesday at the Volunteer Fire Department in Youngsville. Training is provided collaboratively by Northern Pennsylvania Regional College and the Emergency Response Training and Certification Association.
ERTCA trainer Isaac Suydam was in control of how the virtual characters responded while fellow trainer Pat Whalen was careful not to injure themselves or damage equipment while blinded to the real world.
Each officer had a VR handgun and taser available to them. Someone reportedly picked up the Wand VR.
It was not a test. When an officer completed a scenario, the software showed statistics about his performance—how many shots they had fired—if any, how many “the wicked” And how many innocent people were beaten. Suydam asked them questions about their response to the scenarios to help them think about how they would handle a similar situation in real life differently.
“These people get the chance to run a scenario as real as it can be without being put in a position to get hurt or injure someone else,” he said. said Mike Fallen of ERTCA. “They can see what they can do better. To be able to bring this back on the field… that’s valuable.”
Several officers said the virtual reality was real enough to get their heart rates up during training.
“It was a terrible experience,” Warren City Police Officer Gary Doolittle said. “Very stressful. Working through pressure and managing that pressure in these types of scenarios makes it all the more realistic. You have to simulate stress to know how you will react.”
“It was really helpful” said Alex Soba, Warren City Police Officer.
Another officer was heard saying: “This is about as real as it gets.”
The three-part training also included a basic course on forced entry in which officers trained to breach a locked door.
The door presented different levels of difficulty.
It’s important for officers to practice and become comfortable with these skills and develop muscle memory, said Instructor Sean Jones, just as it is for them to work on their firearms skills.
Valine worked with law enforcement on Stop the Bleed.
There are often types of accidents that officers deal with regularly “large amounts of bleeding” He said.
Officers are trained to use the Stop the Bleed equipment they carry, but are generally only trained to use it on others. “I focus more on how they manage their own affairs,” Fallen said.
An officer who has been shot in the dominant arm may need to be able to use a tourniquet with only his hand to stop the bleeding.
The training was open to all Warren County law enforcement, according to the NPRC’s Greg Triskett.
A total of 27 officers from Warren City, Youngsville Borough, Kuniwango Township, Warren County Sheriff’s Office, Warren County District Attorney’s Office, and Warren County Adults’ Office underwent training.