The Abu Dhabi Police Virtual Training Centre: A case study for building a virtual reality development capacity and capability

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) technology has revolutionized the way organizations are approaching the training of their workforce. By adopting elements of gamification, VR developers are now able to develop simulations that studies are beginning to demonstrate can teach vocational content in a more effective, efficient, and cost-effective manner, in comparison to traditional teaching approaches, such as classroom tuition for example. VR simulators are considered to be especially effective when used for replicating real-life training scenarios and this is the reason that they are beginning to be adopted by policing. To date, studies have examined their application in a small variety of policing scenarios but no literature has examined exactly how the police develop such VR training simulators, and this is the primary research gap that the study seeks to fill. This is achieved by using a single holistic case study methodology (Yin, 2018. Case Study Research: Design and Methods (6th edn). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage) to examine the design process of nine simulators developed by the Abu Dhabi Police Virtual Training Centre (ADPVTC). By examining detailed design documents this article identifies the use of elements of the constructivist pedagogical approach to learning to underpin the development process used, and associated hardware and software specifications and outlines practical methods of scalability, portability, and mitigation of health and safety risks. In doing so, whilst also providing a blueprint, and the argument for police services to consider the implementation of their own internal VR development capacity and capability, we discuss the possible implications of this for policing. Limitations are also outlined, with the primary issue being the absence of a formal effectiveness evaluation of the products produced, particularly those used for training.