Oglesby police are getting gun simulator training more often than before, because the department bought a simulator for $12,600. Simulators used to cost a lot more and departments got on long waiting lists to borrow them.
Chief Doug Hayse says the simulator puts an officer in various scenarios—some of them just a little different from each other–where police are investigating something and face someone causing trouble. The differences change whether the officer should shoot. One simulation can look exactly the same as in a previous scenario until the suspect pulls out a bag of candy instead of a pistol.
When police use guns, they need to keep track of how many shots they’ve fired. Just like in real life, the training gun runs out of bullets. If the officer isn’t aware of that, he or she could waste time figuring it out by pulling the trigger for nothing to happen instead of reloading.
Hayse says what each officer gets in training can be different. When each scenario is over, it’s played back for review.
The money for the simulator came from proceeds in money laundering cases distributed to police departments.