Police agencies across the United States have long set the standard when it comes to groundbreaking advances in officer training methods across the western hemisphere. But now, agencies in Latin America have entered the spotlight, especially in taking advantage of large-scale virtual reality training systems.
Mexico City installed the first VR police training system in Latin America in early 2023, provided by V-Armed. Using high-powered backpack computers and realistic simulated force options, the Mexico City police began training up to 40 officers per day in groups of up to 10 simultaneously.
Now that the agency has seen such success in VR over the past year, they were motivated to upgrade to the latest wireless V-Armed configuration – where a private 5G Reign Core network now streams VR directly to VIVE XR Elite headsets, instead of using cumbersome backpacks. This upgrade allows practically limitless freedom of movement, providing trainees with a more seamless and realistic experience. Cadet Laiseca Guzmán Miriam shared, “It (VR) makes you act in a natural way, and you respond in a real way. You forget that it’s virtual.”
Barely a year into the usage of the Mexico City training facility, the Mexico State police noticed the positive impact of the neighboring V-Armed training system and procured a similar system of their own in a basketball court-sized space inside their new training facility.
Héctor González de Jesús, Instructor of the Mexico State facility remarked, “We see that the more times people pass through this training center, the greater the confidence they will have in dangerous situations. And they can work through them within their capability.” The cadets and in-service officers across both facilities practice honing skills in VR such as close quarter tactics, operational workflows, technical capabilities, and legal regulations.
“Virtual reality helps us a lot, since it’s very different from just sitting studying the laws,” said Mexico State Cadet Esquivel Lobato Aldo. The ability for trainees to have the space to move within their environment and to choose the force options appropriate for each circumstance, sets V-Armed systems apart from other small-scale FOS solutions. “The biggest benefit of this system is that we can put (the trainees) in really stressful situations that will help them develop their decision-making skills,” said on-site V-Armed Operator Julian Gleizer.
The success of virtual reality law enforcement training is rapidly being noticed by large and small agencies across the US, and now further into Latin America. The speed of advancements in this technology and the increasing ease of use is making it difficult for agencies to justify excluding VR from their training curriculum.
To learn more about V-Armed virtual reality solutions, contact us today.
