Traditional police training often falls short in providing the practical skills needed to handle mental health crises, leaving officers inadequately equipped. Recent research reveals an intriguing solution: using virtual reality (VR) training to immerse officers in realistic scenarios. The findings indicate a moderate to high level of engagement in VR, which not only fosters empathy but also shows promise as a supportive tool alongside traditional training methods. Enhancing immersion, engagement, and comfort with VR technology could strengthen emotional connections, making well-crafted simulations more effective in promoting empathy and understanding.
Individuals with mental health challenges have a notably higher risk of being arrested during police interactions, with 25% of those affected reporting previous arrests. Research indicates a disturbing pattern: the frequent occurrence of excessive force in these encounters, with 25% of fatal police incidents involving people with mental illness.
Conventional police training provides limited opportunities for officers to practice handling nuanced interactions, particularly with individuals experiencing mental health crises. This shortfall leaves officers ill-equipped to manage these situations with the empathy and de-escalation skills needed, often resulting in undesirable outcomes.
Pioneering research from Florida Atlantic University suggests a valuable approach to bridging this gap through the application of virtual reality (VR), creating a controlled and realistic training environment.
The study assessed how deeply law enforcement officers engage in a virtual training setting and examined their levels of empathy and sympathy toward a non-player character (NPC) experiencing schizophrenia. Sympathy entails feeling concern or pity for someone else’s difficulties, while empathy requires a deeper level of engagement to understand and emotionally resonate with another’s experience.
Researchers evaluated 40 police officers’ immersion levels through a 28-item Presence Questionnaire and explored the connections between immersion, empathy, and sympathy with statistical analysis.
According to results published in the journal Criminal Behavior and Mental Health, the officers who participated in the VR mental health training reported a moderate to high degree of immersion, indicating that this training could effectively complement traditional methods. The majority of officers expressed strong engagement with the virtual setting, noting that sensory involvement and the authenticity of interactions were critical influences on their immersion. While some officers initially faced confusion or disorientation, these sensations were associated with heightened empathy in their responses.
“This is where it becomes particularly fascinating,” noted Lisa M. Dario, Ph.D., the senior author and an associate professor at FAU’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. “The instances of disorientation tended to lead to increased levels of empathy later on. This connection is compelling. One possible reason could be that the initial confusion disrupts officers’ typical patterns of thought and perception, making them more receptive to understanding the NPC’s perspective, which ultimately boosts their empathy for the situation.”
Furthermore, the results indicate that items associated with sympathy showed stronger interconnections compared to those linked to empathy, emphasizing the differing nature of these emotional responses. Nevertheless, both empathy and sympathy scales exhibited strong internal consistency, with notable correlations between items like “I felt I could relate” and “I felt what they felt,” thereby reinforcing the empathy scale’s validity.
Additionally, both cognitive and emotional dimensions of presence within the VR environment played a role in how officers empathized with and sympathized with virtual characters. Those who experienced higher levels of immersion or engagement were more inclined to form richer emotional ties with the characters.
“Aspects such as immersion, engagement, and unfamiliarity with the VR headset stood out as indicators of deeper emotional connections,” Dario explained. “Our findings suggest that enhancing these elements in future VR simulations could significantly improve their capacity to cultivate empathy and sympathy, underlining the essential role of a thoughtfully designed virtual environment in promoting profound emotional and cognitive involvement.”
Additional results from the study include:
- 75% of participants felt they had control over events within the virtual environment, with an even higher percentage noting that their actions had a noticeable impact on the surroundings.
- 80% of participants reported that all their senses were actively engaged, with none claiming a lack of auditory engagement.
- Around two-thirds expressed that the interactions felt natural, and over 70% felt their movements appeared natural in the virtual space.
- Participants indicated a high level of awareness of both the real world and their VR devices, which may have influenced their sense of immersion.
- 57% felt they acquired new techniques to enhance their performance.
“Officers are eager and capable of engaging in VR exercises to better comprehend their interactions with individuals in mental health crises,” stated Dario. “The next step is to examine how this tool can improve real-life responses. As VR technology becomes more intertwined with law enforcement, the evidence supporting its effectiveness continues to accumulate.”
Co-author of the study, Jesse Saginor, Ph.D., ACIP, is a professor in the School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation at the University of Maryland.
