With virtual reality police training, Sacramento tries to 'get to a much better place'

With police training programs across the country under intense scrutiny after Derek Chauvin's murder conviction, one department in California is using several high-profile police killings of Black Americans as it trains the next generation of officers to better anticipate and respond to high-risk encounters.

The Sacramento Police Department's training techniques have been largely shaped by the police killing of Stephon Clark, a 22-year-old Black man, in the city in 2018. And graphic videos of recent fatal police shootings, including 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio, and 20-year-old Daunte Wright in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, are serving as teachable moments in the agency's hands-on training program. The department's training division has been using virtual reality to recreate real-world police encounters and incorporate lessons learned into its training curriculum. The agency has coupled its immersive video simulators with cultural competency and implicit bias training, de-escalation, critical decision-making and peer intervention training.