The Opelika Police Department, located in Alabama, serves a population of over 30,000 residents. With the national spotlight turned on policing and judgment training, many police departments feel they need to ensure their officers can stay up-to-date with the latest training methods that pertain to decision making and de-escalation training.
When the Opelika Police Department (OPD) looked at the different options available to them to help deploy their judgmental use of force training program, they identified that Apex Officer's VR training platform came out on top because one of its various features is its body language and non-verbal cues which would be vital in their training. After considering all the other possibilities and doing a thorough amount of research, OPD decided to include Apex Officer's judgmental use of force simulator as a major component to their training program because it could convey the body language and nonverbal cues that everyone involved with this process would need to get familiar with in order for everyone to get along.
Almost all Opelika police officers have had a chance to immerse themselves in the Apex Officer simulator. They were glad they did because it was a great way to build virtual reality skills for real-life situations. These opportunities become evident as days turn to weeks, and blocks of time disappear because there was nothing but Apex Officer training to fill them with. As long as Opelika trainers remember that they've been given this tool as a means to help the city's police officers learn from their mistakes while training, then the time spent with Apex Officer's training system then will have an even better payoff down the line when it comes down to protecting Opelika's citizens.