Use of virtual reality for crime scene investigation training by security forces
Authors: Bures Marek , Lochmannová Alena 
Published: June 2024

Virtual reality is a legitimate tool to complement the range of conventional exercising and training across a variety of disciplines. In the long term, virtual reality has its use in the industrial field, from where it is gradually moving into the environment of education and training in healthcare, services, and other fields. Its use across security forces is relatively new, bringing the potential of training in a safe environment without the additional logistical burden of demanding exercise planning, for which it can serve as a supplement. Within a virtual reality simulation in terms of prepared scenarios and developed applications, trainees are free to explore and explore their environment from any angle, including dangerous and inaccessible locations. This allows users to experience circumstances in the virtual world in a way that would otherwise be difficult or impossible. Among the characteristics of virtual reality as a didactic method, it is necessary to highlight the multiple cognitive and pedagogical advantages that allow to improve the understanding of processes, performance and learning experience of the trainees, the improvement of their ability to analyse problems and explore new concepts, the multitude of scenarios that can be created, the high capacity of interaction and the ease of learning that this technology offers. This paper presents the use of virtual reality for training security forces in crime scene investigation scenarios for different types of model situations. The purpose of the applications is to introduce a standardized procedure to new police officers while conducting refresher training for existing officers in terms of setting standards across the discipline and activity. This paper presents selected scenarios, including models, that have been developed for training security forces, as well as the technological background of fully autonomous training that overcomes the shortcomings of conventional training and thus becomes an important complement to it. The scenarios presented represent the environment of the home in which the police officer as a trainee is located. He/she gradually walks through the dwelling unit, familiarizes them with the scene he/she has entered through the headset, and performs crime scene examination tasks in the role of a police officer. His/her task is to inspect the crime scene and document specific findings that will be filed as essential components for the follow-up investigation. The purpose of implementing virtual reality within security forces is, among other things, to minimize the potential physical strain compared to conventional training in the same scenario. For the implementation of a scenario that is exposed both in terms of standard procedure and in terms of emotional load, the preparatory phase is important, not only in terms of scenario development and validation, but especially in terms of measuring the probands' reactions to the given load. For this reason, the scenario preparation mode, and the partial outcomes of the measurement of police officers, quite specifically the measurement of cognitive load (specifically heart rate, respiration, and skin conductance) in relation to the virtual reality simulation, will also be presented.