(LONDON, Ohio)— Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine today unveiled the first phase of a multi-structure, immersive law enforcement training village on the campus of the Ohio Peace Officer Training Academy (OPOTA) in London, Ohio.
The new village will significantly enhance the quality of advanced law enforcement training available to Ohio peace officers by providing multiple neighboring structures where officers can sharpen their skills in a stress-inducing, realistic environment that replicates situations they may encounter while on duty.
The village will ultimately include up to eight buildings with live role players and seven firearm simulators, including a three-screen, 180° firearm simulator.
“It’s hard to imagine a job any tougher than being an Ohio peace officer. Every day they proudly wear their uniforms, not knowing what will confront them or even if they’ll return to their families at the end of their shift,” said Attorney General DeWine. “That’s why we created this immersive training village. We want the intensive, hands-on training to enable officers to react quickly and appropriately, maintain their on-the-job safety, and make decisions with the best possible outcomes while protecting the public.”
Phase one of the training village, which is now available for use through a number of OPOTA advanced training courses, includes two structures with five firearm simulators.
Building #1: 180° Firearm Simulator
An OPOTA maintenance garage has been repurposed to house a three-screen, 180° MILO Range Theatre Firearm Simulator. Officers will respond to realistic scenarios where a threat could appear anywhere in the officers’ field of vision, testing their situational awareness as they determine when to use – or not use – lethal force.
OPOTA law enforcement training officers will help officers strengthen their verbal de-escalation skills and decision-making skills for using lethal and less-lethal force, such as a taser or pepper spray.
To make scenarios even more realistic, a scent generator can produce scents that officers may encounter at a scene, such as the smell of gunpowder at the scene of an active shooter.
Building #2: Simulator Shoothouse
An OPOTA office building has been repurposed to into a three-room “shoothouse” containing four single-screen firearm simulators that can present officers with nearly 500 different scenarios.
Each room could hold a different threat, including live role players who may try to distract officers or even attack them as they try to de-escalate a volatile situation unfolding on a simulator.
The main room of the shoothouse is equipped with matted floors and walls so that officers can safely practice their take-down and arrest skills with role players.
Officers utilizing the training village can also wear heart-rate monitors to measure how they physically and mentally respond to stressful situations. Sensory devices can also be worn to painlessly simulate a gunshot wound that renders a limb unusable.
Phase Two
Phase two of the training village will create a loft apartment with a single-screen firearm simulator on the second floor of OPOTA’s current Scenario House. A staircase will also be added to the exterior of the building to mimic building access found in many Ohio communities.
Up to five new shipping container buildings will also be built with movable and reconfigurable walls so that officers can practice responding to different building layouts. At least one of these structures will be two stories to help officers train on responding to incidents in buildings with multiple floors and interior stairwells. This multi-level structure will also have another single-screen firearm simulator and an exterior platform.
The training village was created following a recommendation from Attorney General DeWine’s Advisory Group on Law Enforcement Training. Attorney General DeWine formed the group in 2014 to examine how Ohio trained its law enforcement officers and to look for opportunities for improvement.
The cost of the training village is approximately $1.4 million. The Ohio General Assembly allocated funds for the training village as part of the FY 2016-2017 budget bill.