Last summer, I met with the owner of Decision Tactical, Remo Eyal, and learned a bit about what he was bringing to Sanford. Decision Tactical, he described as “edutainment”. For police it’s necessary reality-based training with unlimited scenarios. For the public, it’s education, but presented in a fun and practical way. I was so impressed by what his vision was for the community that I recently decided to reach out and ask him if he had been in contact with anyone from Winter Springs to see if our police department would be interested in training. I asked because I thought if they had not done the training, it may be something I could advocate for them to do once elected for Winter Springs Commission. I was delighted to hear that they had already scheduled training and I asked if I might be able to swing by one day now that they were open.
When I arrived at Decision Tactical, I was excited to see that the parking lot was filled with Winter Springs police cars. Not only were they already active in the simulation training, but I spotted the Chief of Police, Matt Tracht, and asked if he and Remo would mind telling me a little bit about what the goals of training were and how it can improve the work they do for the community. Our officers do so much, and this seemed like an incredible opportunity to tell you how Decision Tactical is bridging the divide and helping not just Winter Springs police, but police from all around to go above and beyond. Not to mention, I was thrilled to learn that Chief Tracht saw the value that I had seen too when I first met Remo a year ago!
When I asked Remo what his vision was in creating the concept of Decision Tactical, he explained that while SWAT gets a tremendous amount of training, most other officers get relatively little training. Their training usually consists of classwork and shooting ranges with perfect lighting and unmoving targets. The officers want more, but budget constraints make it hard. By taking some technology and putting it together with scenario-based simulations, it takes the burden off the budget and allows repeatable training over time. “Saving lives and bridging divides.”
When officers are saving lives and making less mistakes, the community has more trust in the officers. And on the flip side, when the public has the ability to come in and do these simulations for “fun” it gives all of us the opportunity to walk in the shoes of these officers and see how quickly things can go wrong. People will feel the stress, that they had blind spots, or a person drew a gun faster than they anticipated, and they will come out with a deeper understanding. “99% of police contacts around the world are good
contacts, it’s that 1% that you have to train for. That 1% that can go bad quick. That’s why you have to challenge these officers and put them through the harshest of training in an environment like this so it’s muscle memory when they get to the real situations.” Explained Chief Tracht. “So, we’re here today to build up the mental mindset, strategize, expose them to different things. You always have to challenge training. If training becomes stagnant, then officers get bored.” The scenarios currently offered in training are a home, a mall, and a café/street. Each scenario can have a variety of different story lines, so that each time the training is done, the experience is new.
As part of the officer training at Decision Tactical, in the scenario rooms trainers are on hand
to observe the officers in real time as they go through the scenario and then they can offer feedback and repeat the exercise utilizing that new knowledge. I stood on a catwalk over the home scenario while the officers were tasked with securing the rooms. This storyline that I observed didn’t have any people or pets in the home, but evidence was strewn throughout the apartment. The next time they enter that same apartment, there could be a domestic violence dispute, a home invasion, or many other storyline options.
Decision Tactical Founder, Remo added “We developed a technology where we can introduce a live character on the screen that is a real person from another room, so we can have full verbal interaction and work on de-escalation tactics, as it could be a mentally ill person, an autistic person, etc. It takes out that video game feel when you don’t know which characters are live actors and which are simulation.” Officers walk into very real simulated experiences and assess the situation and determine what is a threat and what is not. When you go, you get to do the same thing; putting yourself in adrenaline inducing, fight or flight, fast thinking scenarios, helps everyone walk in each other’s shoes. Bridging the divide.
Chief Tracht summed up why he chose to do this style of immersive simulation training with his department at Decision Tactical, “You train for the unknown. One day it’s going to happen, you are going to get challenged. You don’t want that to be the first time you experience that type of situation.”
I’m really glad that Decision Tactical came to our area and can bring such valuable training to the police departments, not just Winter Springs, but all-around Central Florida and beyond. Decision Tactical isn’t just for police training, you can go with friends, family, coworkers, etc. They have a ton of options for the public with different simulations as well as a great restaurant and a full bar. decisiontactical.com
Sarah
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