NORWICH – Officers at the Norwich Police Department took part in virtual response training at the Norwich Police Station Tuesday.

Norwich Police Chief Rodney Marsh said the training was held at no cost to the police department. Part of the training involved a simulation using technology that put officers in real-life scenarios using verbal communications, non-lethal and lethal force.

“This is an interactive training that forces officers to make split second decisions,” said Marsh. “It was completely free, and they came to us which was a huge help considering our current staffing.”

Marsh said the officers trained on a virtual training system called FATS that delivers advanced functionality for both instructor and trainee, delivering solid weapon handling and shot placement analytics, marksmanship automatic coaching tools and enhanced graphic capabilities for an all-encompassing immersive training platform.

Marsh said the equipment was provided at no cost through a partnership with the Northeast Drug Task Force. Members of both the U.S. Air Force and Army assisted with the system.

The system also employs high definition video scenarios to produce dynamic escalation and de-escalation or use-of-force training. He added that the training requires the user to survey and react to verbal cues, facial expressions and overall body language to quickly assess a situation and interact with individuals using proper verbal commands and perishable skills training.

He said every active officer took the training, including himself and Assistant Chief Scott Burlison. He added that the training opportunity was opened up to other departments as well and several members of the Chenango County Sheriff’s Office were able to take the training.

When asked about the training Burlison said another important aspect was that data on the officer’s choices were tracked. He said tracking data allows police department leadership to determine if any additional training should be scheduled as a follow up.

“They can change the scenarios too, say an officer isn’t using verbal commands effectively, they can step that up to help them work on that,” said Burlison. “It also collects the data and shows us what our weak points are.”

“If there are issues that a number of officers are struggling with we know that it’s something that we would need to address as a group and seek out further training in those fields.”