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**Virtual Reality as an Empathy Building Community Policing Tool**
 March 2018 | Volume 11 | Issue 3

Futurist Jason Silva states that “if  empathy rarely extends beyond our line of sight, then wireless communication  technologies can be considered engines of empathy, radically extending our line  of sight” (Big Think 2015). The premise behind Silva’s argument is that we tend  to offer empathy to only those things we directly see or experience. Thus,  technology offers individuals an opportunity to extend our direct experiences,  and ultimately, our compassions. 

**Social Distancing and Empathy**

Behavioral economists refer to this  phenomenon as the theory of social distance, which suggests that the  connectedness of individuals is predicated on emotional proximity. As a result,  reducing these distances bonds individuals closer. Bohnet and Frey (1999)  suggest, “When social distance decreases, the ‘other’ is no longer some unknown  individual from some anonymous crowd but becomes an ‘identifiable victim’  (335).”  In short, the more closely linked the  individuals are, the more they are willing to offer assistance.

As a result, understanding the ideal  methods and mediums to reduce social distances is critically important to  bringing communities together. Research has focused on various methods  including the effect of class position and human interactions (Akerlof 1997),  prejudicial attitudes and mental illness (Corrigan et. al. 2001), and most  recently, evidence-based appeals and fundraising (Brown, Meer, & Williams  2017).

Within the last 20 years, purposeful  use of and exponential advancements in technology have offered an additional,  exciting method to reduce social distances and ultimately extend empathy  (Toscos et. al. 2008; Baecker et. al. 2014).   In many ways, developments in technology ha ve always sought to reduce social  distances and increase interpersonal connections. The telegraph, telephone and  more recent examples such as email and social media all ultimately seek to  reduce the virtual distances between individuals. By closing these gaps,  strangers become “identifiable victims,”  resulting in increased empathy among communities (Alloway et. al. 2014).  Therefore, as technologies  continue   to improve, it is imperative to  understand  how to leverage them to reduce social distances and bring communities closer  together. 

**Virtual  Reality**

In recent years, the advent and  adoption of virtual reality (VR) has presented even more opportunities to  provide direct connection to individuals. Simply, VR is an immersive experience  where  the participant experiences a  digital environment designed to resemble actual life experiences through visual  and auditory stimulation. While early versions of the technology were used to  introduce users into a purely fictitious environment, current advancements have  allowed users to experience real-life experiences,  from riding roller coasters to exploring rain forests,  to even visiting third-world countries.

Because of this, VR has proven to be  an effective tool in empathy-building as well. Philanthropic organizations such  as UNICEF, Charity Water, and the National Autistic Society have  leveraged  VR to  further connect emotionally with  donors. Instead of traditional pamphlet awareness campaigns, VR allows these groups  to put donors directly into an  experience, such as   living in sub-Saharan Africa during a water crisis. The results have been  equally promising. Nielsen found that consumers who viewed VR content were more  likely to donate compared to traditional methods (2017).  VR is powerful as an empathy tool due to its ability to facilitate connections  through shared experiences. These shared experiences could be equally promising  for community policing as well.

**VR  and Community Policing**

Developing connections with  communities through shared experiences is not new for police departments. Law  enforcement and the associated research community have long found moderate  success in achieving this emotional connection through citizen police academies  (CPA). In a CPA, citizens participate in an accelerated training program  designed to expose citizens to the policies, activities  and  expectations of police officers. Brewster (2005) found that participants were  more positive toward police officers and willing to engage in behavior that  would help police upon completion of a CPA training  program. These findings were largely supported by similar studies  (Breen & Johnson 2007; Pope et. al. 2007) suggesting that empathy can be  developed between the community and police officers.

VR offers the same potential to  facilitate an emotional connection between communities and police departments  by providing the former with a  real-life, immersive experience of an officer’s interactions. The realism and  immersion of VR allows community members the opportunity to experience  the variety of scenarios  and decisions an officer must make at a given moment, most of which happen in a  matter of seconds. Additionally, VR is not restricted by time or geography. Users  can participate in these  virtual reality scenarios in their  homes at any time across the world.

VR training can be reciprocal as  well. While it offers community members an opportunity to develop empathy  towards police officers through shared experiences, it can simultaneously offer  police officers the opportunity to develop empathy toward community members as  well. Through deeply immersive VR experiences,  police officers can experience life as a community member in the city they  serve. Through these   experiences, officers can  develop skills and trainings  based on what it is like to  be a community member who is approached  by an officer in a variety of scenarios.

Using VR to train officers on  community experiences would not be foreign to law enforcement. Currently,  police departments are using the technology to train officers in various  use-of-force situations. For instance, the Morris County Public Safety Training  Academy currently trains officers through VR on use-of-force tactics. The  Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office uses VR to train officers and develop response  under stress techniques.

From computer-aided dispatch to body-worn cameras  to drones, law enforcement has always sought to be on the cutting edge of  technology adoption and implementation. VR represents another vehicle that police departments can use to  build relationships with their communities.

John  H. Kim          Social Science Analyst (COPS)          Contributing Writer 

References:

Akerlof, George A. "Social distance and social  decisions." *Econometrica:  Journal of the Econometric Society* (1997): 1005-1027.

Alloway, Tracy, Rachel Runac, Mueez Qureshi, and George  Kemp. "Is Facebook linked to selfishness? Investigating the relationships  among social media use, empathy, and narcissism." *Social Networking* 3, no. 03 (2014):  150. 

Baecker, Ron, Kate Sellen, Sarah Crosskey, Veronique  Boscart, and Barbara Barbosa Neves. "Technology to reduce social isolation  and loneliness." In *Proceedings  of the 16th international ACM SIGACCESS conference on Computers &  accessibility*, pp. 27-34. ACM, 2014.

Big Think. “Jason Silva: Portable Virtual Reality Will  Allow You to Climb Into Someone's Mind”. Filmed April 2015. YouTube video,  2:50, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=GWcn6yc8HT0

Bohnet, Iris, and Bruno S. Frey. "Social distance and  other-regarding behavior in dictator games: Comment." *American Economic Review* 89, no. 1  (1999): 335-339. 

Breen, M. E., & Johnson, B. R. (2007). Citizen Police  Academies: An Analysis of Enhanced Police-Community Relations among Citizen  Attendees. *The Police Journal*, *80*(3), 246-266.

Brewster, J., Stoloff, M., & Sanders, N. (2005).  Effectiveness of citizen police academies in changing the attitudes, beliefs,  and behavior of citizen participants. *American  Journal of Criminal Justice*, *30*(1),  21-34.

Brown, Alexander L., Jonathan Meer, and J. Forrest  Williams. "Social distance and quality ratings in charity  choice." *Journal of Behavioral  and Experimental Economics* 66 (2017): 9-15.

Corrigan, Patrick W., Annette Backs Edwards, Amy Green,  Sarah Lickey Diwan, and David L. Penn. "Prejudice, social distance, and  familiarity with mental illness." Schizophrenia bulletin 27, no. 2 (2001):  219.

Nielsen. "Virtual empathy: how 360-degree video can  boost the efforts of non-profits." May 10, 2017. Accessed February 9,  2018. http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2017/how-360-degree-video-can-boost-the-efforts-of-non-profits.html

Pope, J., Jones, T., Cook, S., & Waltrip, B. (2007).  Citizen’s police academies: Beliefs and perceptions regarding the  program. *Applied Psychology in  Criminal Justice*, *3*(1), 42-53. 

Toscos, Tammy, Anne Faber, Kay Connelly, and Adity  Mutsuddi Upoma. "Encouraging physical activity in teens Can technology  help reduce barriers to physical activity in adolescent girls?" In *Pervasive Computing Technologies for  Healthcare, 2008. PervasiveHealth 2008. Second International Conference on*,  pp. 218-221. IEEE, 2008.

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