A POLICE INSTRUCTOR FROM THE SECRETARY OF CITIZEN SECURITY PARTICIPATES IN A VIRTUAL REALITY TRAINING EXERCISE. ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP
Mexico City has opened the first VR training center for police officers in Latin America at the local police academy.
Secretary of Security Omar Garcia Harfuch inaugurated the VR training center equipped with "100 motion capture cameras" and different types of virtual rifles and revolvers.
The VR training center aims to improve police officers' performance in stressful situations.
- According to the local government, only three police units in the U.S. and the Israeli police have this VR training system.
- Harfuch was injured while two of his bodyguards were killed in an attack in June 2020, attributed to the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, one of the country's most powerful criminal gangs.
- According to the head of the Mexico City government, Claudia Sheinbaum, the new VR center saves 4M pesos in ammunition.
In May 2022, LAPD launched a VR training program for officers, with a motion capture studio in the police academy's gymnasium.
- In 2019, the EU funded a VR "Shotpros project" to improve the performance of European police officers by developing VR-enhanced training.
