Law enforcement train via shooting simulator Hickman Courier 10/09/08 Charlotte Smith Email this story to a friend Keeping their skills sharp is always on the minds of law enforcement, including those in the area. One way to do that is to practice shooting their weapon, which can be costly. Kentucky ???? ACo and the Kentucky League of Cities are working with law enforcement throughout the state to bring those costs down. Area law enforcement including Fulton County Sheriff, Hickman City Police, Fulton City Police, Fulton County Constables, Hickman County Sheriff’s Department, Fulton County Detention Center, Probation Parole, Pennyrile Drug Task Force, Union City, Tenn., Police Department, Kentucky State Police, Pretrial Services and the Fulton County Attorney were able to practice with a shooting simulator. KACo has purchased three of these simulators at a cost of over $100,000. “The best type of training that we have is live fire,” said Brian Roy of KACo. “This second best is this shooting simulator.” Having this equipment enables the officers to practice shooting more than a couple of times a year, while saving the cost of ammunition at the same time. The simulator has over 250 scenarios that include different types of emergencies, domestic violence, school shootings and more. It lets the officer work on his “reaction training” while protecting premium insurance dollars at the same time. “The extra training is always a good benefit,” added Roy. “Fire arm instructors and the sheriff have the ability to add additional training time at the local level without traveling far. It gets real expensive to go to cities like Richmond or Lexington with multiple vehicles for training,” continued Roy. KACo brings the equipment here, so they don’t have to travel. The computer and floor to ceiling screen enables the officers to work with a pistol, pepper spray and taser during real life scenarios. The officers are trained to use voice commands when necessary. After the officer walks through a scenario, they are then evaluated. Did they use the right kind of verbal commands? Should they have shot sooner? Did they shoot when they could have used pepper spray instead? The simulator also works on the different scenarios the officer might encounter when the deliver warrants, as well as domestic violence calls, courtroom scenarios and disturbed individuals. Different scenarios can have different outcomes. The instructor controlling the simulator can determine ahead of time if the officer should use firearm or not. The simulator works on helping the officer determine his first option. It even works with low light training in a dark room. Law enforcement can also use it to keep the target shooting skills honed. One thing noticed while Danny Zickefoose and Deputy Robby Woods were shooting, was a recording could be made or what they did and it would show you were their shots were fired. Was their target hit the first time? Could they take too many shots?  Those types of things can be evaluated when each person completes their training session. “Not only does it determine the shot sequence it also determines how much time was taken between shots,” said Zickefoose. “Instead of getting fixated on one thing – try to get them to coordinate their vision – look for more than one target.” In one exercise Danny Zickefoose had to determine when to shoot and when not to shoot. During this exercise, the scenario was a school shooting and when he first went in, he announced that he was with the Fulton County Sheriff’s Department before shooting. Even though he saw a weapon first coming from a hallway, he waited until he saw who was carrying the weapon and it was someone from another law enforcement agency. While he waited to shoot, sometimes an officer can get ‘juiced up’ and will react before they should. Another added advantage is the addition of a type of ‘wrist band’ for off duty or plain-clothes officers to wear on their right arm. It is bright green and will help other officers who might not know them identify that they are officers, so they don’t get shot trying to help. “I appreciate KACo’s interest in purchasing the equipment and leasing it to our small department,” commented Sheriff Bobby Hopper. “It was a money saving operation with great training. My only regret was that all the local law officers didn’t get to participate in the training.” KACo brought the equipment to McCracken County before coming to Fulton County. The equipment was in Fulton County beginning on Mon., Sept. 22 through Oct, 3. They moved on to Calloway County after leaving Fulton County. Fulton County can request the training at any time, usually a couple of times a year.