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At first, it sounded like fun. After all, video and computer games are popular and some are real shoot-em-ups.
This is what it was really like:
You pick up a police handgun (which emits a laser beam instead of bullets) in a darkened room and take a stance about 15 feet from a wall-sized screen. A scene unfolds -- the camera representing you, an officer in a routine pullover of a pickup truck. The solo driver gets out of the truck cab. There's a gun in his hand. "Drop the gun! Drop the gun NOW!" you bark, all the while aiming emphatically at him, following procedure to the letter.
The driver drops the weapon and compliantly raises his hands.
By now, you're starting to forget this is make-believe, an acted scene. You feel in control, in command. In law enforcement parlance, the situation appears "secured."
False security. In a split second, someone pops up from the truckbed like a zombie sprung from a coffin in a horror movie. Only this is your horror movie. While your brain is still reacting and screaming "pull the trigger, pull the trigger," his rifle has rapidly pumped five rounds toward you, close range.
You're firing. You may still take the gunman down. But it looks like you're going down too.
Some fun.
This is police work at its most pressured, in situations where literally anything can happen. Even at their most intense, TV and movie police dramas cannot approximate the rapid and unexpected turn of events real officers might face. The Firearms Training System, or FATS, is the most advanced technology available to put police recruits and veteran officers in situations like these, test their reactions and sharpen their skills.
The Indiana University Police Department (IUPD) on the Bloomington campus leases FATS III, the most up-to-date version of the system, for a week or two each year, posting a round-the-clock schedule that gives every officer a turn in front of the screen.
The stopping of the pickup truck, a routine that quickly became dangerous, is one of many scenarios filmed and captured on the system's laser discs. FATS III also records the trainee's voice and actions on video for later critique. A computerized logic tree also gives the officer at the control panel multiple variables to change scenarios while they're unfolding, testing the officer with different outcomes.
The department also uses the system for standard firearms practice, testing accuracy and speed on fixed targets. The combination of built-in programs satisfies the need to sharpen many skills, says Lt. Greg Butler, who runs the FATS training at IUB. "It isn't enough to have firearms proficiency," he explained. "Officers have to know when to use firearms and when not to, the proper level of force for any situation."
The sophisticated system is so versatile, it accommodates all levels of experience. Police cadets can be given basic firearms training with FATS III. "New graduates of the Indiana Law Enforcement Police Academy are also put through the training to learn how to handle situations new to them.
IU Detective Leslie Slone, awaiting her turn on the system, is a nine-year veteran. "You find out all the things you do in a situation are critical," she said. "If my verbal commands aren't loud or clear, the training scenario quickly digresses out of control; the suspect won't drop the weapon, for example. It's interactive and as real as you can get off the street."
In an intense situation, people can get "tunnel vision," Slone explained. "Your brain doesn't notice what's going on outside the immediate focus on one or two people. This system trains and retrains your mind to get outside that focus, to pay attention to everything."
This is the second year the IUPD has spent the $2,000 to lease the equipment, and officials hope to have it again late this summer for the police academy graduates. "We make the most of the time it's here. We schedule it 24 hours a day," said Butler. Local law enforcement agencies also lease the system, he said.