Virtual Reality (VR) provides great opportunities for police officers to train decision-making and acting (DMA) in cognitively demanding and stressful situations. This paper presents a summary of findings from a three-year project, including requirements collected from experienced police trainers and industry experts, and quantitative and qualitative results of human factor studies and field trials. Findings include advantages of VR training such as the possibility to safely train high-risk situations in controllable and reproducible training environments, include a variety of avatars that would be difficult to use in real-life training (e.g., vulnerable populations or animals) and handle dangerous equipment (e.g., explosives) but also highlight challenges such as tracking, locomotion and intelligent virtual agents. The importance of strong alignment between training didactics and technical possibilities is highlighted and potential solutions presented. Furthermore training outcomes are transferable to real-world police duties and may apply to other domains that would benefit from simulation-based training.

In policing, Virtual Reality scenario-based training (VR SBT) is being explored to complement real-life scenario-based training (RL SBT). We investigated whether relevant training responses in VR SBT, namely heart rate (HR), level of physical activity, mental effort, and perceived stress, resemble those in RL SBT. Utilizing a within-subject study design, we investigated the training responses of 237 police officers of the Dutch National Police. We found that the maximum HR and average level of physical activity were significantly higher in RL SBT, whereas invested mental effort was significantly higher in VR SBT. No significant differences were found in average HR and perceived stress. We also found that perceived stress in VR was predicted by participants’ VR experiences such as engagement with VR and experience of negative effects, but not by participant characteristics. Participants’ mental effort in VR was predicted by their VR experiences and participant characteristics, particularly gaming frequency. In conclusion, VR SBT can elicit perceived stress, mental effort, and average HR that resemble or exceed responses in RL SBT, providing a promising tool to complement police training.

Virtual training systems provide highly realistic training environments for police. This study assesses whether a pain stimulus can enhance the training responses and sense of the presence of these systems. Police officers (n = 219) were trained either with or without a pain stimulus in a 2D simulator (VirTra V-300) and a 3D virtual reality (VR) system. Two (training simulator) × 2 (pain stimulus) ANOVAs revealed a significant interaction effect for perceived stress (p = .010, η_p² = .039). Post-hoc pairwise comparisons showed that VR provokes significantly higher levels of perceived stress compared to VirTra when no pain stimulus is used (p = .009). With a pain stimulus, VirTra training provokes significantly higher levels of perceived stress compared to VirTra training without a pain stimulus (p < .001). Sense of presence was unaffected by the pain stimulus in both training systems. Our results indicate that VR training appears sufficiently realistic without adding a pain stimulus. Practitioner summary: Virtual police training benefits from highly realistic training environments. This study found that adding a pain stimulus heightened perceived stress in a 2D simulator, whereas it influenced neither training responses nor sense of presence in a VR system. VR training appears sufficiently realistic without adding a pain stimulus.

Applied sport psychology (ASP) service delivery rests on adequate training in ASP. To enhance future quality of ASP, attention should be drawn to education in the field. We examined programmes and courses that lead to ASP expertise in Europe and explored the possibility and objectives of a network of educators in ASP. Data were collected through a survey (N = 59; 30 European countries, 35 ASP education programmes) and analysed using descriptive statistics and content analysis. An overview of education in ASP in Europe is presented and discussed in terms of entry, structure, and completion of programmes and courses. In addition, perceived quality of programmes and a network for educators in ASP are discussed. Findings illustrate that education in ASP is available in most European countries, but programmes and courses vary widely in terms of level, size, and applied focus. Educators in ASP are interested in interacting, mainly with the objectives to form a network, collaborate and exchange (e.g. knowledge, staff, students, experiences, quality standard).

The After-Action Review (AAR) in Virtual Reality (VR) training for police provides new opportunities to enhance learning. We investigated whether perspectives (bird's eye & police officer, bird's eye & suspect, bird's eye) and line of fire displayed in the AAR impacted the officers' learning efficacy. A 3 x 2 ANOVA revealed a significant main effect of AAR perspectives. Post hoc pairwise comparisons showed that using a bird's eye view in combination with the suspect perspective elicits significantly greater learning efficacy compared to using a bird's eye view alone. Using the line of fire feature did not influence learning efficacy. Our findings show that the use of the suspect perspective during the AAR in VR training can support the learning efficacy of police officers.Practitioner summary: VR systems possess After-Action Review tools that provide objective performance feedback. This study found that reviewing a VR police training scenario from the bird's eye view in combination with the suspect perspective enhanced police officers' learning efficacy. Designing and applying the After-Action Review effectively can improve learning efficacy in VR.

This paper aims to support the growing scope of research investigating the effectiveness of de-escalation by police officers. Through a scoping review, we conceptualize de-escalation in police-citizen interactions by identifying the different components of de-escalation, the techniques it entails, and what we know about the effectiveness of these techniques. A comprehensive search of five databases (i.e., Criminal Justice Abstracts, APA PsycInfo, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, and International Bibliography of the Social Sciences) yielded 18 studies in the police and public order domain that described at least one de-escalation technique as part of their data. By summarizing and synthesizing the literature, we provide a framework of de-escalation and a detailed overview of all techniques found in the included literature. We conclude that the measures of effectiveness for de-escalation techniques vary, limiting the evidence base of what works de-escalating. We offer suggestions for future research to build upon these results and expand the evidence base on the efficiency of de-escalation techniques, as well as provide directions on how the results can be useful in developing de-escalation training.