Chapter 3 54 Training set-up All training took place at a training facility consisting of multiple empty buildings rented specifically for the purpose of the training. The VR SBT took place in a large hangar. The RL SBT took place on the outside and inside of an empty office-like building. As this training was conducted for police officers in the Dutch special intervention unit with tasks as close protection officers, the overall training objective focused on protection tasks; particularly on patrolling to ensure safe surroundings, protecting the entrances of buildings, and spotting suspicious behavior. Training scenarios in VR and RL were adjusted to accommodate for the training objectives while also remaining suitable for the particular training modality. For instance, to use VR effectively, we selected three shorter training scenarios that combined building protection, patrolling, and spotting of suspicious behavior, using different virtual environments in each of the scenarios. For RL SBT, we utilized one large-scale cohesive scenario that combined the same training objectives as VR. Real-life scenario-based training (RL SBT) RL SBT was designed together with experienced training instructors of the Dutch National Police. The scenario was staged around an empty one-story building consisting of various rooms and one main entrance. The front side of the building faced a street. Participants wore their regular patrol gear, protective helmets, vests, earplugs, and protective glasses for use with FX cartridges. Participants were equipped with FX weapons (rifle-type) and FX non-marking cartridges, nonlethal training ammunition. Props used in the scenario included smoke bombs, police cars, civilian cars, and scooters. For the scenario, various role-play actors were hired to act in the following roles: a lawyer, a police officer, two suspects (equipped with FX handguns and non-marking cartridges, protection equipment), and four bystanders. The role-players were well rehearsed and adhered to the scenario script developed by the police instructors. In the training scenario, participants were tasked with protecting a lawyer (role-player) and securing the lawyer’s office (the empty one-story building on the training premise). Participants took on various tasks according to their roles in their operational protection unit. Some participants were positioned outside the building to spot suspicious behavior of people or suspicious vehicles approaching the building. Another group of participants was positioned inside the building to provide personal protection for the lawyer. Additional participants were positioned at the main entrance to only give cleared people (role-players) access to the building. In the first 25 minutes of the scenarios, various people (role-players) would approach the building, attempting to get access. After 25 minutes passed, a police car arrived with a police officer as a role-player who exited the car. Meanwhile, two civilian cars approached the building and stopped in the middle of the road. The two civilians (role-players) left the car and threw
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