St. James Police Dept. receives de-escalation grant; incoming training simulator
St. James is one of 45 law enforcement agencies to be awarded a de-escalation training grant from the United States Department of Justice.
ST. JAMES, Minn. (KEYC) - The city of St James received a grant of more than $155,000 for its police department, all of which will be going towards a VirTra V-180 Training Simulator System.
“Very few agencies in the country got a grant such as this to help improve the training. We’re a growing town. We’re looking to improve things and we’re going to do whatever we can to make that happen,” assistant chief of St. James police Chet Anderson said.
It aims to help officers learn about de-escalation, autism awareness and other methods of communication with the public.
“It’s going to be quite game-changing and innovative for police work in Minnesota,” Anderson said.
There are a total of three locations in Minnesota for this simulation, but St. James will hold the first VirTra Training in Greater Minnesota.
The VirTra Simulator has multiple screens with 180 degrees of coverage, immersing an officer within a realistic environment for training- which is also cost-effective.
“If you had to go to an in-person, scenario-based training, just the infrastructure of actors- it’s almost like you’re producing a TV show in front of you for training. Certainly not affordable,” Anderson said.
St. James is one of 45 law enforcement agencies to be awarded a de-escalation training grant from the United States Department of Justice.
St James police hope to bring in other agencies across Minnesota and northern Iowa to make use of the incoming simulator.
“To be able to provide good quality training, to help improve the level of our officers, and improve the quality of the product, and all of that, is what we really look for in leadership at our police department,” Anderson said.
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