VirTra and Force Science Announce Scholarship Award Recipients

VirTra Inc., a provider of training simulators for the law enforcement, military, educational, and commercial markets, announced the 12 peace officers who have received scholarship awards from VirTra and Force Science Institute to attend a five-day Force Science Analyst Certification course, which is designed to better educate officers and improve their performance.

The winners include: Polk County Sheriff's Office, Iowa; Saint Peter Police Department, Minnesota; Stoughton Police Department, Massachusetts; O’Fallon Police Department, Missouri; Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, California; Cleveland Division of Police, Ohio; Monterey County Sheriff’s Office, California; Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office/Wilsonville Police Department, Oregon; Delta Police Department, British Columbia, Canada; Brighton Police Department, Colorado; and Erie County Detective Bureau, Pennsylvania.

The five-day program, taught by nine instructors, allowsattendees to receive a Force Science Analyst Certification. The certificationsignals their proven ability to recognize multiple factors that impact humanbehavior in use-of-force encounters. By participating in complex, rapidlyunfolding encounters, the officers will be introduced to the scientificrealities that impact officer performance like stress, action/reaction time,memory, decision-making, and more. Winners will attend one of the coursesscheduled for either October or November in Columbia, South Carolina, Omaha, Nebraskaand Chicago, Illinois.

Dr. Bill Lewinski, executive director and co-founder of theForce Science Institute added: “Preparation through effective training is keyto increasing officer performance and decision-making in time compressedsituations. VirTra has done a great job of integrating Force Science researchinto simulator scenarios. The partnership between VirTra and Force ScienceInstitute encourages research-based and science-backed training, which is vitalto furthering officer education to improve safety and performance.”

“Working with Force Science to develop a scholarship programhelps further our goal of providing expert training to officers around thecountry,” said Jason Mulcahy, VirTra general manager. “VirTra’s hope is thateach of the twelve officers will learn extensive and important concepts, whichthey can then take back to their respective agencies to better educate theircolleagues and improve their departments and communities.”