The Town of Hillsborough recently voted to purchase a police training simulator. The simulator, which is a virtual reality system, will provide regular training opportunities for officers to practice deescalating a situation.

At a Hillsborough Board of Commissioners meeting on May 10, the board voted to purchase the police simulator with unused funds in the police department budget.

The simulator, which costs an initial $68,250 and an annual $1,300 service cost, could help officers practice remaining calm in stressful situations. Potential scenarios include responding to an emotionally disturbed or suicidal individual, burglary, traffic stops, loitering and active shooters.

Hillsborough Mayor Jenn Weaver said the purchase could have been made without bringing it to the board for a vote, but the town staff wanted to promote transparency in the spending.

“It seemed important for us to talk about this as a board in a public forum just to be really clear and have a good discussion with ourselves, with the town manager, with [Hillsborough Police Chief Duane Hampton,] and so the public could see,” said Weaver. “[We wanted to] really be clear about why we’re making the purchase given all the greater discussion that’s being had about policing right now.”

The mayor said it was clear from Hampton’s presentation the simulator would provide a type of high-stress training which police officers do not consistently receive.

“We want to have the best possible chance of avoiding any kind of situation where an officer has god forbid killed someone due to excessive use of force or confused their gun or taser for each other or just exercising poor judgement,” Weaver said. “We owe it to our community to have them as well trained as possible.”

While neighboring towns have similar equipment, Weaver said this new simulator system is the latest technology.

The purchase of the simulator is part of larger conversations regarding use of force and how to deescalate conflict in Hillsborough. Earlier this year, the town created a public safety task force to work with the government and law enforcement to create a safer community.

 

Photo via the Town of Hillsborough.

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