Sheriff’s office utilizing virtual reality taser training, thanks to grant and drug seizure funds

YORK – The York County Sheriff’s Office is now utilizing state-of-the-art virtual reality taser training, thanks to a grant from the county’s property/casualty insurance carrier (NIRMA) and access to drug seizure funds.

​This new training equipment will save the county money in the long run, because required training will no longer use real taser cartridges, which cost $65 each.
This week, sergeants, deputies and corrections workers were training with the new equipment – and this writer was also able to try it herself, in order to get the full virtual experience.
As explained by Sergeant Taylor Samek, all workers with the YSO carry tasers and must go through training at least once a year, at a minimum. In the past, that meant using real tasers and expending those expensive cartridges.
“Now, everyone can go through training multiple times, much more often, and it will be cheaper in the long run,” Sgt. Samek said.
The virtual reality training equipment and software cost $20,000 -- $5,000 came from NIRMA with money from the county’s drug fund paying for the rest. No taxpayer money was used for this purchase.
Another great benefit is how trainees are able to train in a variety of different scenarios – virtual reality scenarios in different settings, with different circumstances, which can also be manipulated by the trainers. This allows the trainees to respond in different situations – something that otherwise would have only been experienced in the real world, in real life, as they unfold.
“What is really exciting is how new deputies and correctional officers get to use these in many different scenarios before having to do so in person, in real life, where the consequences are very real,” said YSO Captain Josh Gillespie.
While the trainees wear the head gear, the trainers can watch what the trainees are seeing and how they are performing by looking at an accompanying tablet. The trainers can also then participate as needed, providing additional views and actions to prompt the trainees to learn in different ways.
“It’s really like you are on the scene,” said Sergeant Jordan Dickson, one of the trainees in this particular session.
“And again, if you have 20-30 people training each year, at a cost of $65 a cartridge, with each person using up to six cartridges, well, this really is more cost effective,” Captain Gillespie reiterated. “And this means we can train all the time, not just once a year.”
Sgt. Samek stressed how this training is very important as the taser is the preferred weapon of choice when it comes to in-the-field responses, when compared to using a firearm.
For this reporter, the experience was quite unique as most lay persons never have the opportunity to use a taser. Holding a real taser and holding the training taser was quite a similar experience – the training taser is designed to feel and operate just like the real thing.
The scenarios are quite lifelike, in the virtual reality setting, and it is remarkably high-tech in the way the trainee can select scenarios and operations simply by staring at certain prompts (basically, with lack of better words, using the eyes as one would use a mouse for a computer). Editor's note: The accompanying photo of the tablet was not in the most lifelike setting. Other settings incorporate real 360-degree video. 
When deploying the training taser, the response is critiqued by the system – gauging whether or not the action was accomplished and at what rate it was successful.
NIRMA says its intent “is to dedicate additional resources each year through this grant program to help fund and recognize the safety/risk management/loss control efforts of our members as a means to encourage activities designed to protect employers, prevent and control accidents, increase effectiveness of operations, control liability exposures and reduce the frequency and severity of loss. These resources are to be directed to providing safety training, inspections, equipment, education, programming and other related initiatives and to recognize members and individuals for outstanding contributions and efforts in the areas of safety and risk management.”