For police officers, a situation can escalate in a matter of mere seconds. Knowing what to do in those split seconds and in a world where everything you do is scrutinized and put under a microscope, can make all the difference. That’s where the Public Safety Training Foundation supported by Howard Buffett in Decatur comes into play. This state-of-the-art training facility comes with a simulator called VirTra where you can go in and depending on how you handle the situation can determine how the person responds to you in a virtual world with many different outcomes. 

This simulator will be opening to the public soon so that people can see just how tough of decisions go into this and that sometimes there are no easy answers with some situations. Chelsey Keyes, Director of Communications says that this is an important simulator not just for the public to see how tough policing is, but also for police to get even more hands-on training, to make them better at their job.

One of the big things that Director of Training Rafael Gutierrez says for the VirTra is communication. Communication can make all the difference in a scenario. For the VirTra simulator, there are limitations, but Keyes says the pros definitely outweigh the cons. 

There are 100’s of different scenarios where you can really deal with all kinds of real-life scenarios, whether it’s an active school shooter, dealing with conservation-type scenarios, to suicide and loitering, and de-escalation and how to handle someone who may be autistic. They are adding to it all the time.  The PSTF also has other ways to train too. 

For Keyes, she just wants people to have a better understanding of just how difficult law enforcement can be sometimes. 

The PSTF is looking forward to scheduling the public to use the VirTra in the near future, they are also putting together a website. Stay tuned to Regional Radio News for more on this story in the next few days.