A Virtual Environment to Test Police and Public Awareness of Anti-Social Behaviour Indicators

Abstract

Shamus P. Smith is a lecturer in ComputerScience in the School of Engineering and Computing Sciences at Durham University. He has expertise in virtual reality technologies and human-computer interaction. Over the past 12 years he has been designing, implementing and evaluating virtual environment systems. His recent work has focused on the use of virtual environments for training in hazardous environments including simulations for medical procedures and fire evacuation. Tim Carter read computer science at Durham University and graduated with a BSc (Hons) First Class in Software Engineering in 2008. He is currently a consultant at the business and technology consultancy firm Detica (UK). ABSTRACTAnti-social behaviour is a problem in many modern-day communities. However, the ability of the police and other associated agencies to tackle this problem is limited due to the difficulties of gaining experience through training in the field, which is time-consuming and often dangerous. Virtual environment technology can provide a safe and controlled environment to assist police officer training in simulated urban environments. Public perceptions of anti-social behaviour are also important and virtual environments can be used to allow police practitioners to gain insight into how the public experience anti-social behaviour. A virtual environment system has been constructed to support police officers becoming more observant and confident at spotting indicators of anti-social behaviour. An evaluation study was conducted with practitioners and members of the public to compare the virtual environment with a paper-based alternative. Performance metrics were collected during the study and postsession questionnaires were used to evaluate the perceptions of 36 participants in regard to their experiences with the system. Performance in the virtual environment was comparable with a paper-based method. In addition, both practitioner and public participants positively received the virtual environment, with the majority indicating a preference for virtual environment simulations over conventional paper-based activities. This has implications for the further use of virtual environments as such systems can provide dynamic experiences over a wide variety of scenario-based environments.

Experiential learning with virtual reality: animal handling training

“…The strategy of using VR as a learning tool was documented more than 40 years, and the expensive cost forbidden its full extent diffusing at the application level (Dalgarno and Hedberg 2001). As VR hardware cost substantially drops and becomes affordable (Earnshaw 2014), it leads to a paradigm shift in adopting simulation at the museums and cultural heritage settings (Economou and Pujol, 2008), work-based professional training, such as surgical training (Tergas et al 2013), aviation (De Repentigny et al 2003, police and military (Garcia et al 2019;Smith and Carter 2010) and dental education (Buchanan 2004). VR has a fundamental value in academia to engage students in learning activities through immersive simulation (Allcoat and von Mühlenen 2018).…”

Virtual training environments for major incident response planning in UK gas infrastructure

“…VTEs are used throughout the emergency services to train for firefighting (Gamberini et al, 2015;Williams-Bell et al, 2015;Kinateder et al 2014;Ruppel and Schatz, 2011), emergency vehicle distribution (Jain and Mclean, 2006;, search and rescue operations (Wang et al, 2013;Kobes et al, 2010), Police incident response (Alison et al, 2013;Smith and Carter, 2010) and uncommon situations such as earthquakes, or terrorist attacks (Albores and Shaw, 2008). VTEs have been shown to enhance emergency response skills (Gamberini et al, 2015;Williams-Bell et al, 2015 ; o u r n a l o f D i s a s t e r R e s i l i e n c e i n t h e B u i l t E 4 VTEs allow repeated testing of scenarios with alternative strategies preparing responders with a better understanding of what to expect at an incident (Williams-Bell et al 2015;Ganier et al 2014;Campbell et al, 2008).…”

“…VTEs are used throughout the emergency services to train for firefighting (Gamberini et al , 2015; Williams-Bell et al , 2015; Kinateder et al 2014; Ruppel and Schatz, 2011), emergency vehicle distribution (Jain and Mclean, 2006; 2005), search and rescue operations (Wang et al , 2013; Kobes et al , 2010), police incident response (Alison et al , 2013; Smith and Carter, 2010) and uncommon situations such as earthquakes or terrorist attacks (Albores and Shaw, 2008). VTEs have been shown to enhance emergency response skills (Gamberini et al , 2015; Williams-Bell et al , 2015; Kinateder et al 2014; Ruppel and Schatz, 2011).…”

Integrating geographical information into urban safety research and planning

“…Data describing individuals' choices, demographics and comments during postexperimental interviews form the basis for the study. Smith and Carter (2010) applied a similar methodology in a VE to test police and public awareness of public disorder events. Results suggest that VE can be used as a tool to provide a safe and controlled environment to assist police officer training as well as to gain insight into how the public experience public disorder problems.…”