With lasers and a screen, municipal police officers train virtually for interventions

“On this exercise, you have cardboard targets, in which you will have to impact twice, and metal targets, once.” Sven Cottin gives the last instructions before training begins.

The noises are realistic, but it is in front of a screen that Aurélien and Mickaël, two municipal police officers from Chambourcy, in the Yvelines, do their shooting session of the day. In their hands, a laser pistol that identically copies the Glock 17 they wear on their belt.

Projected exercises on screen

This system consists of “an overhead projector, with laser detection cameras”describes Sven Cottin, the president of the company In the viewfinder, distributor in France of this simulator from the United States.

“The laser, at the end of the barrel of the weapon, will be detected on the screen projection, with zero risk.”

Sven Cottin, distributor of the shooting simulator in France

at franceinfo

This tool, named Lasershot, offers more than a thousand shooting exercises, and 900 scenario scenarios (road checks, aggression, knife attacks, etc.). It has already attracted municipal police stations and private security companies in France. The stagings, performed by American actors and based on real events, allow the agents to train on situations that they encounter regularly.

Learn from virtual mistakes

Aurélien must, for example, virtually arrest an attacker in a park. “In this scenario, we have an agent equipped with gas, and lethal weapons, and the other agent equipped with a tazer”, says Sven Cottin. Aurélien behaves as if the situation were real, orders the aggressor to move away from the victim. This one does not comply. The agent uses his tazer.

But when Michaël uses the tear gas canister, he also hits the victim. Making mistakes on the simulator prevents them from being reproduced in the field. The agents work on their discernment, their stress and their ability to observe so as not to be surprised. The simulator is complementary to the shooting range, because it is more immersive, especially for interventions in pairs.

“It will teach us to work with each other, to communicate, to know our partner, and to have confidence in our weapon on the public highway.”

Aurélien, municipal policeman in Chambourcy

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Municipal officers only have two shooting range sessions each year. With the simulator, they can train whenever they want.