FATS Training

Just because you're a good shot doesn't mean you're a good cop. Officers goes through countless hours of training and part of that training can include firearms training simulator (or FATS). Captain Wayne Manolescu says, "This gets us to our next level off of paper where were talking, we are still giving commands on the paper but we're not actually having somebody playing a scenario and saying put your hands behind your back and the person does it or they don't do it. We want to test our officiers, especially recruits we send them through this a lot to see all the stuff you learned in Disneyland that we've spoon fed you we want you to put it to practical use now."

                Although fats offers life-like scenarios, officers say it cannot replace actual life situations. But it does have its benefits over some training methods.. Kyle Laitenberger says, "You can never take away the live fire range portion, this right here is great for inside and for tactics. You know I think you can get more out of here because there are more scenarios, you can run all the scenarios in siminition but people are going to get tired of making them."

                Officers say something called siminitions would be the next step in training... That's where officers use paintballs and act our situations but even that isn't perfect. "That's where you start getting your heart beating because that little paint thing hurts and you don't want to get shot with it. And we do that as a last measure before they go out on the street. The only thing with that is the cost, this free of charge. I call Kyle and he says Wayne come down, I get the recruits in here, get my officers in here and it's free of charge."

            The scenarios can be controlled to make the officer think on their feet and even as good as this experience is, it's only part of the training process. "You still need the actual live fire training at the range to your yearly evaluations as well as getting out there and making sure your weapon works and feeling that actual live recoil."