Date: Fri 14-May-1999

Publication: Bee

Author: ANDYG

Quick Words:

police-firearms-simulator

Full Text:

Local Police Take Aim At Skilled Use Of Lethal Force

(with photos)

BY ANDREW GOROSKO

Two police patrol officers are dispatched to a rooftop in a city where a lone

sniper with a rifle is menacing the people on the street below.

The police walk across the rooftop slowly, cautiously using whatever available

cover they find to protect themselves while approaching the gunman. They walk

around an equipment shed and confront the gunman, who is leaning over a

parapet wall.

The grizzly, middle-aged man in a dark trench coat turns toward the police

officers and points what looks like a rifle at them.

But is it as rifle?

What should the policemen do?

Should they fire at the man before gets a shot off at them?

And if they do fire, will their shots hit their mark, disabling and possibly

killing the gunman?

Town police have been using a sophisticated firearms training simulator to

sharpen the judgment needed to make such split-second decisions involving the

use of lethal force.

Last week, in a darkened room at the police station, officer Steve Ketchum sat

at a control console entering computer commands, projecting life-sized video

images of assailants onto the screen of a FATS III firearms simulator. Ketchum

is a police department firearms training officer. Ketchum projected 16

different video scenarios of life-threatening situations onto the screen

filling a wall, requiring officers to make appropriate split-second decisions

while using training firearms. The lone sniper on the rooftop was one of those

video scenarios.

The handguns used in the simulation handle like working weapons but do not

discharge shells.

Sergeant Joe Rios took aim at one of the villains projected on the screen and

unleashed simulated fire when he was threatened with violence by a video

assailant brandishing a weapon. Sgt Rios went through the training exercises

two days last week. In several tests, he gained excellent results, scoring

"lethal" hits against the video assailants.

Rios termed the laser-based simulator "an excellent training tool" designed to

simulate the real-life situations which officers may encounter in the course

of their duties.

After a video of a threatening situation is played and an officer exchanges

simulated shots with the assailants, the video is replayed to show how well

the officer performed, indicating where the rounds landed, plus the officer's

reaction time.

Officers had a variety of handguns from which to choose. Local police

typically use .40-caliber Smith & Wesson Sigma pistols.

The training exercise is intended to demonstrate the importance of quick

decision making, taking cover, and accuracy in firing a handgun, Sgt Rios

said.

"It's good awareness training," said Officer Ketchum. The FATS III training

system is in high demand among law enforcement agencies in the state to

sharpen police skills, he noted.

Detective Joe Joudy, the police department's senior firearms training officer,

said using the simulator provided useful firearms training for members of the

department, adding that he hopes town police will have annual use of the

equipment, which was rented for training purposes.

"Everyone did well. Everyone did great, better than we anticipated," Joudy

said of local officers' performance. Each officer received one hour of

training, plus an analysis and discussion of how they performed.

"Using a firearms simulator is much more realistic than shooting at paper

targets on a pistol range," Joudy said. The simulator affords officers the

chance to shoot at moving targets and allows interaction between officers and

video images which are generated by a laser disc player, he said.