It’s unsettling, a little dizzying at first. The real world vanishes, replaced by a simulation that is so realistic you can see the plants growing in sidewalk cracks, hear the rush of passing traffic, look up and see the moon. You move your arm, and a virtual hand appears, waving, pinching, or grasping a Taser 10 or Glock 21. This is the future of training, and the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) has dived into the world of virtual reality to enhance deputies’ skills. This cutting-edge technology offers an immersive experience that will supplement range time and live role playing and training scenarios in a way that builds speed, accuracy, confidence, and decision-making.

“We started incorporating it into our annual in-service training in January, and deputies have been very responsive,” said Corporal Jim Lancia of the Training Division. PCSO now has VR versions of the Taser 10 and Glock 21 that deputies carry. They both feel and handle like the real thing, but they are incapable of firing live probes or rounds. The VR headset slips over the eyes – even over glasses—and the deputies face the wall, standing within the safety zone one of the trainers set up. They can move around a little, but not too much or the illusion dissolves. With a few adjustments and a little practice, deputies can navigate through the training scenarios. Instead of a double-click, you make selections by pinching your fingers or by staring at what you want to select.

The Taser training begins with basic shot placement. To be effective, two probes must hit the correct area at least 12 inches apart and complete the circuit, which results in neuromuscular incapacitation – the subject locks up and falls down. “Showing the lockup really elevates the training,” said Detective Nick Paden, who was doing his yearly in-service training. “You can shoot a target that has an outline of a guy all day long, but it’s not going to let you know if it’s working or not because the target doesn’t react. VR does.” If the deputy fires two probes and gets no reaction from the VR person, they know their shot placement wasn’t ideal and they can deploy another probe.

The VR training program lets deputies practice tasering people who are in a variety of different positions and types of motion. It also varies the clothing, which can have a dramatic effect on probe placement. If a person is wearing a heavy jacket, the deputy may have to put a probe in each thigh to get proper neuromuscular incapacitation. The scenarios challenge deputies to evaluate each situation carefully. One person has a heavy apron on, leaving limited targets. Another person looks like he just has a shirt on, but when perfectly placed probes fail to have any effect, you realize he’s wearing multiple hidden layers. Recognizing the problems and adjusting for them is an important part of the training.

For firearms, the in-service training begins with target practice that is very different from what they might do at the range. The deputy sees a big room filled with small targets at different heights and distances – squares, circles, and triangles in different colors. Some have numbers on them, others have letters. The instructions change each time. Deputies might be asked to shoot the blue targets, or all the circles, or only targets with a number on them. In a real-life situation, deputies will be inundated with information and need practice in how to pay attention to details and make quick, accurate, safe decisions.

Deputies can also train with realistic scenarios. In a completely immersive VR world, they may be faced with a suspect armed with a knife, an uncooperative passenger in a traffic stop, or any number of scenarios that test whether a deputy should use deadly force. When confronted with a suspect brandishing a knife or a baseball bat, do they draw their taser or their firearm? A lot of factors come into play, such as distance, available cover, and whether they have backup on scene. Instructors can see everything they see on a tablet, and after the scenario is over there’s a debrief where they talk about their decisions and actions.

Corporal Lancia said that using VR will improve a deputy’s accuracy, timing, shot placement, and decision-making. After using it for a while, he’s seen the improvement in his own performance. “I was cautious when I first read about it, but within a week my accuracy improved. My out-of-the-holster and shot placement have gotten faster. I can see this really being a benefit to our agency. Deputies will get better and better, faster and faster.”

Corporal Derek McDowell of the Training Division agrees. “Agencies that are starting to implement VR firearms practice, just using the targets, have seen something like a 30-percent increase in shots on target when their recruits go to live fire training.” While some new deputies have a lot of experience with firearms, many don’t, and there is a lot to learn about their new weapons besides speed and accuracy. With VR, a new shooter can get a lot of very realistic practice before they ever hit the range. They can perfect their technique and gain confidence in grip, stance, and aim, then take that experience to the range for live fire drills.

The training division sees potential for expanding the use of VR in training. Axon offers citizen contact scenarios where deputies can experience interacting with autistic people, deaf people, an officer in crisis, subjects with cognitive issues like dementia, or mental health problems such as schizophrenia. Deputies can be immersed in situations they might never have dealt with before, so they are more likely to recognize them and react properly when they encounter them in real life. Axon also sends regular updates, including new scenarios to keep training interesting. Future upgrades may let two deputies train in the same scenario, and Axon is working on a VR rifle. One day, the scenarios might become even more interactive, with artificial intelligence changing the scenario depending on the deputy’s response.

VR is cost effective too. Firearms training at the range requires lots of ammo, as well as manpower to ensure safety. But with VR they can draw and fire as much as they need to for no additional cost. The more deputies practice with Taser and their firearm, the more comfortable they’ll be, and the more confident in their decisions.

Corporal Lancia says that VR training should be an adjunct to, not a replacement for traditional training. “Will it ever take the place of human contact and role playing? No. But I promise you it helps.” He’s excited about what this will mean for training today – and what the future may hold.

Imagine you see someone breaking into a car. You immediately call 911 and give your location and a description of the suspect: white male about 30, average height, brown hair, black shirt. It’s helpful, but it’s not the most accurate description. What if when you called 911 you could show the operator exactly what you were seeing, live in real time? Not only would they be able to see what the suspect looked like, they might also be able to capture other details like the tag of their getaway car. A screenshot of that video could be sent to responding deputies. Later, a detective could use that video in court to prove that the suspect is guilty.

Video to 911 is a new technology that allows people to share live video during emergency situations. “We went live here in September,” said Emergency Communications Supervisor Ted Joyal. It’s not something that happens automatically. If the operator thinks that seeing a live video would be valuable, they will send them a link.

“They’ll get a link for permission to access their camera, audio, and location,” Joyal said. “When they do it starts streaming right away.” Both the operator and the person making the call have the ability to flip it from forward facing to selfie mode and back again.

While video to 911 won’t be used in every 911 call, there are plenty of circumstances when it could be very helpful. “CPR is one of the main medical uses for this,” Joyal said. “We want high quality CPR, so if we can get a visual on the person giving it, we can make sure they’re doing it right. We can talk them through positioning the patient position, and their hand positioning.” Having eyes on the CPR process means they can better coach bystanders through the life-saving technique, potentially saving lives.

It is also useful for things like fires and fuel spills where people can’t always estimate the severity of the incident. A smolder and a little smoke may look like a big fire when it’s in your house. A gallon of gasoline spilled at the gas station seems like a lot more than it really is if you aren’t used to looking at fuel spills. Looking at a live image can let them know how many engines to send.

During last year’s hurricanes, when high winds and flooding made it extremely dangerous for law enforcement or the fire department to respond to calls, they had to prioritize their rescues. In the middle of the storm a woman called to say a tree had fallen on her husband. The 911 operator pictured someone lying pinned and crushed beneath a tree – the kind of call that might make a responder brave hurricane force winds and risk their own life to save someone. But when they turned on the video, they discovered the truth was a little different – a large tree had in fact fallen, but the person was just trapped behind the tree branches, not crushed beneath it. The caller had been too panicked to explain clearly, but the video showed that the call required a very different response than they had first believed.

911 operators can talk callers through all kinds of dangerous situations before first responders arrive. In one recent call, a woman had locked herself in her room and someone was trying to break down the door to attack her. The operator sent her the link, and when she accepted it, the operator was able to better evaluate the situation and advised her to climb out the window, which she was safely able to do. She was able to escape from a dangerous situation even before law enforcement was on scene.

This new app, especially combined with texting to 911, gives witnesses the ability to contact help and supply information without the suspect being aware of it. Either the caller or the operator can choose to hide the app, so that even though it is still recording, anyone looking at the phone can’t tell. Imagine a situation where a domestic violence victim is being threatened. She can subtly text to 911, receive and accept the link, and then hide the screen. The suspect will have no idea that everything they say and do is being transmitted to the 911 operator.

Users can send attachments, such as photos or videos they’ve taken previously, and they can also send footage from their home security or video doorbell camera. Photos can be attached to the call immediately for responders to see, but videos can’t be shared until later (although the operator can capture a screenshot to share.)

Another great thing about the Video to 911 app is that it can be sent when someone calls into one of the nonemergency lines. “We get location information on 911 calls automatically, but we don’t get it for the seven-digit lines,” Joyal said. “But if we send them this link and they hit agree, we can get their location. Recently a juvenile in crisis called on the seven-digit line and we didn’t have their location. They were sent the link, and we were able to find their location very quickly and send them help.”

Joyal said that even if the operator doesn’t offer to send the link, callers can request it if they think they have valuable video or images to share that could help 911 relay important information to law enforcement or medics.

A 911 operator will use every resource available to help a caller, and innovations such as texting 911 and the Video to 911 app are more tools that help them save lives. Sometimes, though, the individual operator’s cleverness and experience make all the difference. For one call the only information they had about someone’s location was a photo of a house with the number visible, but no street or city information. “I grew up in St. Pete and I was sure that was a St. Pete house,” Joyal said, “so I just brought up Google Earth. Based on the number it had to be either third street or third avenue.” He searched by trying the combination of streets and avenues that could fit with that number in the grid system until he found the house. “I was pretty proud of myself that day.”