POLK COUNTY, Iowa — At the new Polk County Sheriff's Office headquarters, training is taking on a whole new—futuristic—look. The new simulator gives deputies a near-real-life way to train.
"When you're surrounded by 300 degrees of screens, they're all active. We can have stuff going on all five different screens. There's nothing comparable, and it's unlike anything we've had in the past," said Lt. Ryan Evans.
The machine comes with 300 pre-programmed scenarios. Each scenario can play out in dozens of unique ways.
"It's not easy to come up with 27 different scenarios when you have 27 different people. With this, it's really done for us and then we can take the time to critique it," said Lt. Evans.
Those scenarios are controlled by instructors in real-time who can choose where a deputy's encounter goes next.
"It just depends what we want as a deputy or officer to interact with the machine and gives us an idea of what we're going to do next," said Sgt. Andy Hunt, firearms coordinator for the sheriff's office.
The equipment the deputies use in the simulation is the real deal. The firearms, for example, are the ones deputies use in the field with lasers replacing live rounds. The magazines are filled with compressed air to mimic a firearm's recoil.
"The fact that it's giving our officers a chance to use their de-escalation tools in a controlled environment. It will prepare them to go out to the real world and deal with these situations," said Lt. Evans.
Local 5's Jon Diaz got a chance to run through a few scenarios.
"Until you experienced it, you had no idea. Now you have an idea—a little bit of an idea—what the officers go through on a day-to-day basis, what's expected of them, what the decisions that they're expected to make in a matter of a fraction of a second," said Sheriff Kevin Schneider.
The sheriff also said he has been working for several years to bring this technology to the department.
"Polk County is ever-growing and changing. And it's going to be important that we stay in front runners as far as technology goes and law enforcement around the country," said Sheriff Schneider.
WATCH | Central Iowa police train on de-escalation practices using virtual reality