Queensland Police - Incident Command Training

In conjunction with QMI Solutions Ltd, Queensland Police Service has implemented a virtual reality simulation system for training Police Officers incident command.

Read on at-
http://www.qmisolutions.com.au/article.asp?aid=77



The Challenge
Most people's first reaction to an incident or hazardous situation is to contact emergency services. Without doubt, there is a public expectation that these response teams will automatically know how to deal with and resolve any given situation - particularly police departments called upon to deal with all types of scenarios, from domestic violence situations, burglaries and traffic incidents to potential terrorist threats.

What isn’t so visible is the high level of training and experience that goes into consistently meeting these expectations. Yet the very nature of emergency service departments’ work can sometimes limit the level to which training can be taken. Mock-ups of ‘real-life’ situations can be very difficult, sometimes dangerous, expensive, and more often than not, impossible exercises to carry out.

Queensland Police has found a way around this, becoming the first police organisation in the world to use virtual reality technology to enhance training methods. Using powerful visualisation technology, situations considered too dangerous or costly to recreate in the real world, such as fires, terrorist attacks, hostage situations or traffic accidents, are now possible through virtual recreations of live situations.

The Solution
Queensland Police has piloted a training programme using Silicon Graphics visualisation solutions to prepare officers for all manner of day-to-day situations and potentially dangerous occurrences – in a safe, controllable and measurable training environment. The training application was developed by "Reality Works", a service bureau at QMI Solutions in Brisbane. The application is powered by a Silicon Graphics Reality Center installation at QMI that consists of an Onyx 3000 visual supercomputer with three powerful projectors displaying a single merged image on a large spherical screen with a 160° field of view, completely immersing users in the environment.

Project officer for Queensland Police, John Rolfe, states "Reality Works offered us a unique method of supplementing our Incident Command Training. Using highly realistic ‘live’ scenarios immerses participants and puts theory into practice. This training environment enables us to significantly enhance officers’ situational awareness, decision making and command and control skills. The facility also allows us to run between 6-12 officers through the scenarios in a session, significantly reducing the cost and time usually involved in individual ‘real-life’ training".

"We were impressed with the professionalism and efficiency which the Reality Works and SGI team showed in progressing the project from proposal to implementation stage. Within just 8 weeks the whole development, including building the 3D model scenario, was complete", he continued.

The Results
The pilot project was designed to simulate the initial response of officers at an incident. In the virtual reality room, groups of officers are immersed in the virtual scenario and required to assess, contain and respond to the situation being presented to them.

Meanwhile, new information and unexpected elements are constantly being introduced to the scenario by a group of senior officers who are in contact with the trainees by radio from another control room.

"The SGI system is highly intelligent, interactive and adaptive – as such, the computer-generated scenarios present trainees with completely different outcomes dependent on whatever new elements the controllers introduce and decisions made, making the training as comprehensive and realistic as possible," said Andy Dennison, Reality Works Centre Manager.

Extensions to the initial environment might include:
- Movement of traffic and people around a scene
- Weather
- Time of day
- Audio cues such as radio messages, traffic noise, gunshots

Each participant takes a turn in the hot-seat where they are required to take command of the situation, navigate around the scene, determine how they want to run the operation and deploy resources around the area as appropriate.

"This would mean tactically placing officers or cars at certain locations, and assessing whether to involve additional resources - such as dog squads or specialist support. It’s vital for officers to have the ability to quickly assess, contain and resolve any contingencies ," said John Rolfe.

Once the exercise is complete, reviewers can navigate to an overhead view of the site for a debriefing exercise and evaluation of the participant's courses of action, and have the ability to overlay a ‘model’ answer that shows the most appropriate course of action.

The Future
Given the success of the pilot project the QPS is considering using QMI's Reality Centre as a regular feature of Incident Command Training. Looking to the future we may build on current abilities with virtual training for officers in environments other than the one already created.


For more information or advice, please contact:
Consultant: Geoff Wakeley
Phone: +61 7 3364 0700
Email: info@qmisolutions.com.au