Farmington Police Train for Life-Threatening Situations

Down in the basement of the Farmington Volunteer Fire Department, police officers stood in the dark, guns raised, running through life-threatening situations and practicing when and how to use force.

The training session was hosted by VirTra Systems, an Arizona company that makes firearm-training simulators for military and police throughout the world. The program allows officers to practice negotiating, judgment and marksmanship in a variety of situations controlled by a trainer at a computer.

Farmington police officers each took a turn with the simulator this week, as did police from West Hartford, New Britain, New Milford, Watertown, Newtown, Suffield, Miss Porter’s School Security and the Metropolitan District Commission.

Sgt. Stephen Egan, responsible for Farmington Police training, invited VirTra System’s Ray Witham to run the training session.

“It’s a cool way to train, especially on the marksmanship,” he said. “A lot of people focus on the scenario but if someone’s baring down on you, it’s a lot different than standing at the range. When you're in that kind of situation, it's got to be a reflex. This helps maintain that level of proficiency.”

The system is programmed with scenarios of robbers, murderers, hostage-takers and a hopeless guy who has just been fired. The trainer can control the outcome of the situations and whether force is required. Some of the scenarios involve a pair of shooters.

“Human beings like to think we can multitask, but we can’t,” Egan said, citing studies in which officers were distracted by an attractive woman and didn’t see a gun nearby. The simulator helps train officers to be aware of their environment, he said.

Officer Shawn Hurley of the MDC took a turn with the simulator and said the training was incredible.

“It wakes you up so that when you get into the real world you say ‘wait a minute, let me look around,’” Hurley said.

The program also allows for an officer to get ‘shot’ through the use of a return-fire stimulator, which produces a slight shock. Witham said the return teaches officers to fight through an injury and also increases the authenticity of the experience.

Apart from the scenarios, the VirTra system lets police get in target practice without using any ammunition. Instead, officers use their own weapons, loaded with CO2 cartridges, which cost about a penny a shot. The CO2 fire produces about 40 percent of the actual recoil of regular ammunition.

“It requires many thousands of repetitions to develop kinetic reactions,” Witham said. He likened it to braking in a car. “You apply the appropriate amount of pressure subconsciously. You have to be able to regurgitate these skill sets automatically. It requires a lot of training.”

The system allows officers to get the training, regardless of time or weather. Egan said he likes the idea of getting officers through regular training quickly, without overtime.

“I could send officers down there for 20 minutes and there’s no cost for 300 rounds. Instead of having you shoot 100 rounds on the firing range, you shoot 50 on this then get you on the range and I just saved on ammunition,” Egan said.

As the town plans a new firing range in the public safety complex, Egan said they’d love to add the five-screen, 300-degree immersion training facility. But before taxpayers start worrying, Egan said the department would look at the possibility only if grant money or possibly a regional agreement could be found.