New Training for Illinois's Future Police Officers

The future police officers in the state of Illinois can benefit from Apex Officer's VR simulator.

Virtual reality training simulators are becoming increasingly popular in the criminal justice field, as they allow law enforcement officers and other professionals to practice various scenarios in a safe and realistic environment. In the 21st century, criminal justice programs and law enforcement training academies must continue to find new and innovative ways to train their officers in order to keep our communities safe. One such way is through the use of virtual reality (VR). A new VR training simulator has been developed by Apex Officer specifically for criminal justice programs in the State of Illinois. The simulator allows officers to experience various scenarios in a safe and realistic setting.

Learn more about why police departments across the country are retiring their old projection based simulators and are upgrading to Apex Officer.

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New Training Simulator for Criminal Justice Programs in the State of Illinois

Apex Officer's virtual reality training simulator is the gold standard for criminal justice programs and police academies across the country. Now, the future police officers in the state of Illinois can benefit from Apex Officer's VR simulator. As we have seen through the last few years, criminal justice programs are using VR training simulators from Apex Officer to enhance their training programs. Carl Sandburg College is the latest program to retire its outdated projector simulator and take a leap into the future with Apex Officer®.

The criminal justice program at Carl Sandburg College will invest in a new virtual reality system for their students. Carl Sandburg College will use a grant from the Illinois Community College Board for a police training simulator. The grant is to help ease workforce transitions for criminal justice students.

Southern Illinois University Welcomes Apex Officer's Criminal Justice Simulator

Coming soon to SIU Criminology and Criminal Justice: A Virtual Reality Lab. Thanks to the generous support from the SIU Foundation and SIU College of Health and Human Services, Southern Illinois University students now have access to Apex Officer's Criminal Justice Training Simulator. SIU Carbondale Criminology & Criminal Justice program looks forward to sharing the Apex Officer simulator with students, agency partners, and others over the coming months.

Prof. Giblin, MA students Sam Barnhart and Jamie Stephens, and SIU DPS personnel Cpl. Keith, Lt. House, and Ofc. Cox used our new Apex Officer VR system for the first time.

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Carl Sandburg College Criminal Justice Program

The community college’s Board of Trustees approved the purchase of an Apex Officer Pro Training Simulator that will take students through various officer-involved situations.

Dr. Chris Barber, the coordinator of Sandburg’s criminal justice program, said the simulator has students wear backpacks that communicate with devices set up around the perimeter of a room.

They also wear duty belts that hold all the normal tools that officers would have in the field.

“You are carrying everything that an officer would,” Barber said.

But it’s in a virtual world with virtual suspects, working through virtual scenarios from traffic stops to domestic violence calls to active shooters.

“While the student is going through the scenario, I can manipulate the suspect,” Barber said. "The officer can call out commands to that suspect, and then I can have that suspect react, based off those commands.”

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Benefits of Apex Officer's Criminal Justice Simulator

One of the benefits of the simulator is the opportunity for students to repeatedly practice de-escalation techniques in a safe and controlled environment.

Barber said it trains officers to use the right language and demeanor to reduce the potential for higher levels of force to subdue a subject.

“In law enforcement, you deal with the mentally ill quite a bit. And sometimes words that you say or how you say them can trigger somebody to react negatively,” Barber said.

Virtual reality can also help students decide if law enforcement is truly the right career path for them.

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Law Enforcement Agencies in Illinois Trust Apex Officer for Training

Police departments and law enforcement agencies across the state of Illinois are taking their training to the next level by utilizing the Apex Officer VR training platform. Examples of law enforcement agencies that train with Apex Officer:

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Apex Officer Criminal Justice Simulator Case Studies

Learn more about how the Apex Officer criminal justice training simulator is currently being used by criminal justice programs across the country:

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Conclusion

Police officers and law enforcement agencies in the state of Illinois can experience the Apex Officer system for themselves today. If you found this piece of content interesting, you can learn more about why police departments are turning to Apex Officer's training simulator to save time and resources. To learn more about Apex Officer and request a product demonstration, interested law enforcement agencies can visit our Request a Demo page and get started today, for free. If you would like to speak to someone on our procurement team, an Apex Officer procurement expert can assist you with your request today.

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About Apex Officer

Apex Officer® is the leading provider of virtual reality training simulators for the law enforcement, Defense, first responders, and educational markets. Apex Officer's proprietary technologies, software, and extensive library of scenarios provide intense virtual reality training for de-escalation, judgmental use-of-force, marksmanship, crisis intervention, and related training that mimics real-world situations. Apex Officer’s mission is to use 21st-century technology to solve long-standing problems in policing and public safety.

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