Vitrual firearms training a boon to local officers

MONTROSE — Give clear commands, take cover when needed and use force when necessary. Sound simple? It’s not.

These basics for officer — and suspect — survival during dangerous incidents are not fail-safe. Officers often don’t know what to expect when they arrive at a scene, or how others at the scene are going to behave.

That’s why hands-on training is critical, Montrose County Sheriff’s Sgt. Toby Thorp said — and it’s why Advanced Force Tactics, Inc. was in Montrose this week.

The company provides interactive training for situational awareness and use of force in a program that meets mandates for firearms training. Its services came at zero cost to the county, which was also able to offer the training to several other regional agencies.

“If we make a mistake here, we hope that will help us not to make those same mistakes in the field,” Thorp, the MCSO’s professional standards officer, said Thursday.

Mistakes can cost both careers and lives.

In one of the computer-generated scenarios, a seemingly mentally ill man in fact has a bomb. It’s not enough to shoot him; the trainee must shoot before he detonates the bomb — but aiming for his center mass in this case will trigger the explosive. In this situation, a head shot is the only option.

At least, it was in this particular scenario. The simulator, the IES Range 2000, provides 478 different scenarios, each of which can “branch” into a variety of outcomes.

The outcomes depend upon the actions of the trainee — as well as the whim of the person operating the simulator. Sometimes, even if the trainee does everything right, the operator will program a different outcome, said Gary Griffiths, AFT’s director, and that’s because there are no guarantees on the street.

“It’s one thing to sit in a classroom,” and hear about the logical progression of events, he said. “Real events happen sooner. A half second’s a lifetime. If you can’t respond in a timely manner, you’re going to get hurt.”

So can the very people officers might be trying to help in a criminal incident.

Another simulated incident takes a lone trainee, whose backup is an hour away, into a darkened home on a snowy evening in response to a panic alarm. Screams are audible, but no one is in sight until the trainee reaches an upstairs bedroom, where a sexual assault is in progress.

The suspect’s movements initially indicate compliance, but in a split second, he shoots the victim and takes aim at the trainee.

It takes four shots to stop him.

Montrose Police Det. Ted Velario said the action was proper and in a real-life situation, an officer would’ve been cleared of criminal wrongdoing.

“But you’re going to be in civil court with his family and friends for the next 10 years,” he said. “This is what we go through.”

The simulated scenarios also included a school shooting, complete with panicked cyber-students running right into the line of fire, and gunmen with hostages. One of the gunmen burst from behind a door with an assault rifle and initial shots — fired unthinkingly at his torso — did nothing because he was wearing body armor.

His attire was also technically indistinguishable from how an officer on the scene might be dressed. Velario said several officers mistake this suspect for one of their own — and their virtual selves pay the ultimate price.

However, the flip side of that mistake is just as likely: It really could be a blue jean-clad officer coming through that door, in which case, the trainee could end up killing on of his or her own.

“Some (scenarios) do warrant deadly force and become a ‘shoot, don’t shoot environment,’” Thorp said.

“It helps officers to make a decision prior (to an incident),” Deputy Gary Wray, the MCSO’s firearms instructor, said of AFT’s simulated training options. “If they practice in their mind, they already know what they’re going to do.”

The training was made possible by the West Central POST Regional Training Committee, which selected Montrose and Gunnison as hosts for the area. Gunnison-area agencies utilized the simulator earlier in the week. Griffiths and his wife, Betty, then took it to Montrose, where local police, sheriff’s deputies and officers from Delta, Paonia, Hotchkiss and Ouray participated in the program.

It not only provided required training, Thorp said, but saved several departments money. Had the AFT simulator not been secured for local use, agencies would’ve spent money on travel, lodging, food and overtime pay.

“We’re trying to do everything we can in a financially responsible manner,” Thorp said.

The score sheet

Results from three simulated incidents, reporter-trainee vs. suspect:

• Man with bomb: Suspect blows self, building up before reporter-trainee realizes he’s pulling a string, not waving a knife. On a second run-through, reporter kills suspect with lucky shot to head — but fires right as he detonates. Simulator’s verdict: Too late.

• Rapist in home: Reporter-trainee mistakes suspect’s actions for surrender. He kills victim, then aims at reporter, who is able to fire first, killing him. Simulator’s verdict: Too late for victim.

• School shooting: Reporter initially points gun at what proves to be fleeing students, but holds fire. Kills one suspect in cafeteria, but “dies” when doesn’t react fast enough to the second suspect, who also shoots hostage. Simulator’s verdict: Stick with journalism.

Reporter’s simulated training courtesy the Montrose County Sheriff’s Office and Advance Force Tactics, Inc.