The City of Cape Town’s Safety and Security Directorate has launched a fully-immersive 180 degree firearm simulator to improve the responsiveness of law enforcement staff in a variety of situations.

The latest technological advancement will see officers from the City’s three enforcement services exposed to various high-intensity simulated environments, where they will be faced with split second decision-making on when the use of legal force is permissible.

According to a statement, the simulator places the officer in the heat of the action, surrounded by large screens where they enter into various scenarios and move their way through different training simulations.

With over 950 scenarios already loaded, officers will need to engage with a range of different elements to help sharpen their skills and decision-making required in the field.

The Mayoral Committee Member for Safety and Security JP Smith says simulators have always been a prized training tool for some of the best policing agencies around the world.

”While a conflict situation may arise within seconds, officers need to have the experience of when to apply the legal use of force or where a situation can instead be de-escalated by means of other aspects, such as with the effective use of voice commands. We began the process of trying to acquire a simulator several years ago already, but with strict compliance to procurement practices, we are proud that the time has now arrived. This particular acquisition is a first for sub-Saharan Africa, and will further enhance the training already available to our staff, whether new or existing.” 

The application of force as determined in the Criminal Procedure Act (Act 51 of 1977) requires policing agencies in South Africa to first assess a situation before they can lawfully apply such lethal force, including aspects such as determining if an attack is imminent, if the attack is unlawful and if the attack can be avoided by some other means besides the use of lethal force.

Smith adds it is a massive responsibility to place on the shoulders of any person, even if they have undergone training.

”We are positive that the simulator will further improve our staff’s ability to make those split second decisions, ultimately save lives and further enhance the professionalism of the City’s enforcement agencies.”

Apart from the extensive library of different scenarios that comes packaged with the system, operators will also be able to build custom scenarios that remain unique to their local enforcement environment.

The simulator also allows for improved training of new students – it uses specially adapted firearms that replicate the exact look and feel of weapons issued to enforcement staff, allows for templates as used in conventional basic firearms training, including the use and handling of a firearm and target practice, which will reduce operational costs such as that of ammunition used for training purposes.

The first simulator has been installed and is operational. A second simulator is expected to arrive within the next 12 weeks.

The City says the cost of the complete simulator solution along with its installation totals R9 million, including two years of support from the service provider.