Simulation and training technology

INNOVATION: Immersive technologies such as virtual and augmented reality are increasingly important in society, as well as transforming how police forces train, adapt, and respond to challenges; Wrexham University Professional Policing Lecturer Darren Jacks – a former police officer with 30 years of experience – believes higher education institutions have a vital role to play in partnering with police to leverage the maximum benefits from these new technologies.

INNOVATION: Student officers at the Akademie der Polizei Hamburg have become the latest to use virtual reality technology to gain a greater insight and understanding of hate crime, following the success of a similar initiative in Greater Manchester Police (GMP); the Akademie is now looking to incorporate VR more widely in its training and hopes to work more closely with GMP, as Professor Dr Eva Groß told Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons.

ANALYSIS: Teaching methods are constantly evolving, driven in part by the emergence of new technology, and virtual reality (VR) is one of the latest learning tools; Claire Smith, a former police officer and now a Teaching Fellow at the University of Portsmouth, outlines the findings of a recent pilot study into how VR could be used to improve learning for the UK’s new student officers.