City council Ward 4 representative Brian Matthews has killed and been killed. On a police training simulator that is.
Tuesday evening the Texas Municipal Police Association (TMPA) invited city leaders and the press to experience a use-of-force training simulator. The TMPA brought the $18,000+ training system to Texarkana for area law enforcement agencies to use.
According to TMPA field representative Clint McNear the instructor can control the scenario based on the trainees actions.
In Matthews first scenario there was a very mad woman with a bat. Matthews quietly asked the woman to put the bat down when suddenly she lunged at him and cracked him in the face with the bat.
“If you don’t have good presence or you are not acknowledging a threat when one pops up then bad things can happen. But if you acknowledge the threat and take care of it we will deescalate,” McNear told TXK Today.
McNear said their goal is to help officer make the mistakes while in training it keeps them from making those mistakes on the street and getting killed.
Matthews next two attempt went better with him taking control of the situation better. In the last scenario he loudly commands an irate man to calm down and when that doesn’t work pepper sprays the man. This causes the man to pull out a handgun at which time Matthews shot and killed the man.
Matthews said his time on the simulator was an invaluable experience. “It was a good experience to see what our officers see and look through their eyes to see what dangers they face on a daily basis”
