The steilacoom department of public safety (sdps) will use FY24 safer outcomes funding to acquire street smarts virtual reality training systems

The Steilacoom Department of Public Safety (SDPS) received a $189,088 Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Justice's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) Office under the Public Safety Partnership and Community Policing Grants (CFDA 16.710) program. The funding will be used to acquire Street Smarts virtual reality training systems to enhance scenario-based training for SDPS officers and 17 neighboring police departments in the surrounding jurisdictions. The comprehensive training approach includes follow-up assessments to evaluate knowledge retention and application of skills in real-world settings, ensuring long-term effectiveness. The award period is from October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2026.

Serving in a county with many smaller jurisdictions, we are pleased to expand training to police departments in the cities and towns of dupont, sumner, buckley, puyallup, lakewood, edgewood, university place, bonney lake, eatonville, fife, fircrest, GIG harbor, milton, orting, pacific, ROY, and ruston. The street smarts VR state-of-the-art tools will offer our police department, and other police departments in our county, immersive, scenario-based exercises that mimic real-life situations, greatly enhancing training capabilities. With VR systems, officers will be able to practice and hone their responses to critical incidents, including active shooter situations, domestic violence, serving warrants, and other dangerous police situations. This comprehensive training approach includes follow-up assessments to evaluate knowledge retention and the application of skills in real-world settings, ensuring long-term effectiveness. Funding will cover the purchase of the VR systems, steilacoom officer training, and sending an officer to train each of the 17 collaborative agencies twice a year for 2 years to train their officers.