Cincinnati police officers are practicing their decision-making with an updated system that puts cops on simulated calls and measures how they act.

        The Firearms Training System (FATS) records every shot fired at a screen, showing whether it would have been lethal. Its nine scenarios can be modified in progress — one time the woman in the simulator pulls a gun, the next time she's grabbing only her drink.

The Firearms Training Scenario (FATS) system at the Cincinnati Police Academy allows trainers such as Roger Smallwood to create scenarios, then vary their details and outcomes. (Brandi Stafford photos) | ZOOM |

        Officials also will be trained to write their own programs. They plan to film shootings that have happened here, to let Cincinnati officers learn from their colleagues' experiences and mistakes.

        “We want them making the mistakes in here,” said trainer Roger Smallwood, “not out there.”

        It's commonly called “shoot/don't shoot” training. But it's not just about whether the officers fire.

        Almost more important is the officers' explanations — whether they can articulate why they acted the way they did and if they can recite relevant policies and procedures. An example: I didn't shoot at the speeding minivan, even though the driver backed into an officer, because the driver showed no weapon.

        If they get it wrong, they do it over.

Roger Smallwood, a trainer at the Cincinnati Police Academy, demonstrates how the new training simulator works. | ZOOM |

        “We don't want anybody leaving here with negatives in their head,” said Mr. Smallwood, a retired 29-year veteran who is back working for the training academy. “We want them to be able to know what the right thing to do is.”

        Training is among the issues being researched by U.S. Department of Justice lawyers investigating the Police Division for possible civil-rights violations. The federal authorities have asked to see volumes of documents, including training procedures.

        The new $50,000 FATS system replaces a model that the division had used since 1995. The older one focused only on whether or not the officer should shoot.

        The new one shows a variety of skin colors in both the suspects involved and officers responding — something the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives recommends as one way to help erase racial bias from training.

        “That's something we didn't used to think about,” said Mike Broering, another trainer. “But it's important. We want this to be accurate.”

        Lt. Col. Richard Janke described the new system as state-of-the-art and said it's an example of the upgrades the division continues to make.

        Each of the division's 1,020 officers goes through the system once a year. Trainers track which scenarios an officer completes, so he doesn't see the same ones twice and can't anticipate how to respond.
       

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