(Manfred – Berlin Police, Germany)
Soon he will have 40 years of divers police experience on his meter and still he feels that working with people and empowering security for all citizens in our society is the most important and rewarding drive. “I wanted to be on the right side of history when I joined the police”, he said.
Aged 17, Manfred joined the police force and took up a post in the riot police. He followed “Abendschule” to get his diploma and steamed up to the police academy to study. He climbed up in the hierarchy and had several management positions in the police and build up more experience in the riot police before becoming a police trainer and later also a trainer to train police trainers. Hundreds of police officers were skilfully formed and trained by Manfred and his team of 70 trainers.
“It was thanks to an EU Erasmus program” that he met some researchers from the VUA, the Amsterdam uni who were researching police training topics. Their focus was to improve the outcome of police training. Two years down the line Manfred got a call from the Netherlands asking him to join Shotpros. The project is in the last straight line to the finnish.
“The VR police project SHOTPROS was a revelation to me. “
Manfred always focused on improving police training but with this VR system of Re-Lion he could train more, better and without danger. The biggest advantage for him is that you can use it 24/7, with every variation in the scenario imaginable, tailor-made training focused on decision making and acting, learning more about human behaviour and stress…
The VR system, although initially a big investment, helps to save money for a very often tight police budget. The cost to rent big buildings in which they can train specific scenarios can be eliminated and with VR you can train hundreds or more scenarios while trainees who have trained in one building 2-3 times no longer see the challenge to continue since they know all corners of that physical building. Not so in the VR. VR scenario can be each time new, a challenge to push officers to further improve their skills.
“VR training is better, you can train more, the intensity of the immersion, the realism of the experience drive you to go that mile further.”
The fact that “making new scenarios is as easy as assembling an Ikea product”, motivates to further diversify police training. The eagerness and curiosity of our management to know all possibilities of VR is doing the rest to drive us forward into the future of policing.
