Page 102 - Security Today, April 2018

VIRTUAL TRAINING
CAMPUS SURVIVAL
A simulated virtual computer program is training teachers, faculty and students to survive an active shooter situation
By Sydny Shepard
Training for an active shooter situation can be the differ- ence between a brief disturbance on campus and a mass shooting. It is the training programs that give adminis- trators, faculty and students the tools they need to have live-saving instincts in the face of pure terror. Now, the Army and the Homeland Security Department intend to give educa- tors hands-on experience when it comes to active shooter situations.
Using cutting-edge video game technology, the Army and DHS have created a computer-based simulator that can train everyone on a cam- pus, from teachers to first responders, on how to react to an active shooter scenario.
“With teachers, they did not self-select into a role where they expect to have bullets flying near them,” Tamara Griffith, a chief engineer for the project, told the Associated Press. “Unfortunately it is becoming a reality; we want to teach teachers how to respond as first responders.”
AT THE EDGE OF SAFETY
The $5.6 million program, known as the Enhanced Dynamic Geo-
Social Environment, or EDGE, was originally created for police and fire agencies and is similar to programs used by the Army to train soldiers in combat tactics using a virtual environment.
The program is now being expanded to include civilian versions that allow school teachers and other personnel to train for emergency situ- ations, including active shooters.
The virtual training program is created to be as realistic as possible; the person training is asked to make life-changing decisions in a very short amount of time and experiences the consequences of their choic- es, sparking more reactions to choose from all while noises of gun- shots, children screaming and alarms are heard in the background.
For instance, the teacher can choose up to seven different ways to keep students safe. From there, a student may be too afraid to move forward with the teacher’s decision and the student becomes another scenario for the teacher to face. The teacher has to quickly decide how to react to keep that student and all the rest of the students safe.
The program is designed to get blood pumping and frighten an edu- cator so that they can react in a similar environment, if the time ever
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