TY - JOUR
T1 - Virtual reality for law enforcement training
T2 - a demonstration and implication for dispatch priming
AU - Potts, Jason
AU - Hawken, Angela
AU - Hillhouse, Maureen
AU - Farabee, David
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the National Institute of Justice [2018-75-CX-K008].
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - We conducted an experimental evaluation of virtual training experiences (VTE) for law-enforcement training during an international policing conference (American Society of Evidence Based Policing). Among the volunteers (N = 77), 30% were female and 70% males with 49% employed in law enforcement and 51% in other occupations. Participants were outfitted with a controller gun, holster, and a virtual-reality headset. Each of four scenarios used involved a call for service reporting the presence of an unknown man acting strangely, with random assignment to one of four conditions: priming message (yes, no) and instrument held by suspect (gun, cellphone). Results show no significant effect of dispatch priming on participants’ responses but do show that law-enforcement officers made more accurate decisions than did non-law-enforcement participants. The feasibility and potential usefulness of VTE as a training tool is discussed along with recommendations for future policing studies involving VR.
AB - We conducted an experimental evaluation of virtual training experiences (VTE) for law-enforcement training during an international policing conference (American Society of Evidence Based Policing). Among the volunteers (N = 77), 30% were female and 70% males with 49% employed in law enforcement and 51% in other occupations. Participants were outfitted with a controller gun, holster, and a virtual-reality headset. Each of four scenarios used involved a call for service reporting the presence of an unknown man acting strangely, with random assignment to one of four conditions: priming message (yes, no) and instrument held by suspect (gun, cellphone). Results show no significant effect of dispatch priming on participants’ responses but do show that law-enforcement officers made more accurate decisions than did non-law-enforcement participants. The feasibility and potential usefulness of VTE as a training tool is discussed along with recommendations for future policing studies involving VR.
KW - Policing
KW - priming
KW - training
KW - virtual reality
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85129294685&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1080/15614263.2022.2065991
DO - 10.1080/15614263.2022.2065991
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85129294685
VL - 23
SP - 623
EP - 632
JO - Police Practice and Research
JF - Police Practice and Research
SN - 1561-4263
IS - 5
ER -