Page 19 - index

TOP cover aUtUmn 2012 19

“ThaT waS juST

like in Training”

contriBUtion By dr JOnAthAn COle
heaD oF Department, Department oF applieD psychology
liverpool University

or many years police and military trainers have is going to be expensive and time consuming. This means that
known that training needs to be as close to the trainers need to find cost effective solutions to cover all the
real thing as possible. scenarios that they may face in their daily lives as well as that
The assault on Mumbai plus the Cumbria worse case scenario.
and Northumbria incidents have dictated that A good example is in the cost of distraction devices. Expensive
FUK police forces now have to train for not just single use devices are simply not cost effective for large scale
everyday criminality, but to potentially deal with determined training but, if the training is to be effective at conditioning the
attacks by well-armed adversaries. Without the pre-deployment officer to react in the right way, then training must include use
of specialist weapons units, the first responders will inevitably be of devices that are likely to be used in a real situation. Re-usable
regular ARV officers. The key question is, how to train and equip devices, such as the range by Thomas Lowe Defence (TLD),
personnel who are more used to dealing with everyday policing to offer a more cost effective solution for the mass deployment of
neutralise the threat posed by determined assailants. distraction devices but still give realism to the exercise that gives
In the case of the initial response to a ‘Mumbai style’, assault the stress inoculation required to be effective.
trainers have to expose regular Police Officers to paramilitary Trainees need to be able to retain their capacity to make
training. When faced with opponents armed with AK47s, the necessary tactical decisions to adapt in their training. Our
thousands of rounds of ammunition, IEDS and hand grenades experience is that only high quality reality-based training is able
normal police responses will be inadequate. to provide an environment in which trainees are able to acquire
The most obvious solution is stress inoculation training. Just the necessary skill set. This is due to the need to provide an
like a vaccine, the theory is that exposure to small amounts of environment that produces the necessary changes in the brain to
stress will ‘inoculate’ the trainee against the stress of the real simulate a real armed confrontation. TLD has a wide selection of
thing. Most reality-based training follows this principle whether it variable solutions helping trainers to give a different experience
acknowledges it or not. The difficult aspect of this type of training and threat scenario at every training session. Cost effective remote
is finding the right level of ‘stress’. The Yerkes-Dodson effect is firing solutions to simulate varying threats, remote distraction
one of the oldest psychological findings still relevant today. It vehicles, suicide vests, mortars through to reloadable offensive
states that a certain amount of ‘stress’ or arousal is needed for simulation grenades are all available to add to the trainers toolbox
optimal performance but too much reduces performance. Trainers of possibilities.
must therefore design training that produces enough realism or TLD can offer materials for reality-based training that
‘stress’ that the student can optimally perform. The failure to do replicate the real life experiences at an incredibly cost effective
so could have catastrophic consequences. level thereby equipping officers with not just high performance
This pressing need to provide high end training is further equipment, but a knowledge that they are well prepared to deal
complicated by the current culture of austerity. Simulating a with many complex situations “just like in training.” ■
‘Mumbai style’ scenario for large numbers of first responders

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