STOP & SEARCH
EXTENDED REALITY TRAINING SCENARIO
DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION
DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION
Training members of the police force for real world confrontational situations can be a difficult task, with the training often taking place inside a "safe" classroom situation, and therefore making it hard to replicate how an event may play out in reality due to role playing within a comfortable and familiar environment.
Seeking to remedy this situation and increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the training, the brief from client Accenture was to develop an extended reality training experience that would take the trainee away from the comfort of the classroom and immerse them in a realistic 360 degree virtual world that would better replicate a key scenario they are likely to face.
The first step to making this a reality was to develop a contextually relevant script that balanced authenticity and realism within the experience with a heightened element of drama to ensure the user felt the tension that they would likely feel if faced with the same real-world situation. The script was developed in close collaboration with subject matter experts from the world of policing, focussing on the subject of stop and search powers and knife crime.
The trainee would wear a VR headset and be placed in the role of an officer on patrol. Accompanied by a junior officer the scenario would lead the trainee to a situation in which they would identify two possible suspects and need to carry out a stop and search procedure. The experience itself would then evolve in response to the verbal responses given by the trainee to the suspects which could fundamentally affect the way the scenario played out with the suspects either complying peacefully with the stop and search or instead becoming agitated, aggressive and intimidating.
With the script finalised, a document was created detailing all elements of the production including character profiles, wardrobe, props and locations. The first task, guided by the production document, was to secure a suitable location. After extensive scouting, an inner-city estate with a small precinct of shops located in the centre was chosen as the scenario. With the stereoscopic 360 camera placed in the middle of the precinct it added an element of claustrophobia to the scenario with the buildings looming on either side. Footage was shot at the location ensuring that key elements of movement were captured such as cars driving on the roads and people walking past. Capturing these small pieces of movement were important to help heighten the realism and ensure the trainee didn’t feel they were looking around a still photographic environment.
Having secured actors, wardobe and props production moved onto filming the actors who would interact with the user of the experience. Utilising a large scale green screen studio, the actors were precisely filmed with the stereoscopic camera delivering each of their interaction routes with the user with first a passive and then agitated demeanour. To maintain authenticity, on set supervision was provided at every stage by the police subject matter expert. Technical input and guidance was provided to the actor playing the junior officer concerning correct procedure for the stop and search routine whilst also monitoring and maintaining the level of performance from the actors playing the suspects so as not to stray into behaviour that in the real world would manifest an immediately arrestable offence (effectively ending the scenario).
When the stereoscopic footage of the actors and location were brought together in post-production and augmented with atmospheric ambient background audio and lighting, the result was an experience that was completely immersive with a level of realism that couldn't be replicated in a classroom.
The final scenario was presented to police forces throughout the UK to unanimous praise and an appetite to develop further scenarios bespoke to each force's region.
