A policing workshop on 16 to 17 April allowed attendees to experience the difficulties faced by police officers, using virtual reality (VR) technology, while also laying the groundwork for a much larger research project on public trust in the police.
The workshop was led by Gabriela Roman, an Assistant Research Professor at the Institute of Criminology, with the VR technology supplied by Operator XR. Three Operator XR representatives attended, alongside seven London Metropolitan Police officers — a national firearms expert, three training instructors and three officers from the force’s Public and Personal Safety Unit — and two researchers from the Met’s research and ethics team, together with criminology researchers from the Institute.
When attendees put on the device, they were able to enact common policing scenarios. These included conducting an arrest of an individual recovering from a drug overdose, a stop-and-search of a suspect driving a stolen car, responding to a suicidal individual, and engaging with a suspect who refuses to disclose personal information.
Backed by the University’s Bid Preparation Fund, Roman’s immediate aim was to co-design and pilot these scenarios with her two partners, the Met and Operator XR. The VR arrest simulations will anchor a much larger study, 'Building the Trust Bridge'. That study sets out to repair the fraying relationship between the public and the police, with its focus on public perceptions: how trust is formed, damaged and rebuilt, particularly among young people. Even as the government promises thousands more officers on the beat, she argues, numbers alone will do little if communities do not trust the officers they meet.
“Sometimes, when we film things on our phone, we think we saw the situation,” Roman explains. “But maybe we didn’t see everything. We might see something escalate fast, but what we don’t know is that when the officer was called in, they were told the person is armed and dangerous. We don’t see that, because we don’t see the weapon.”
“So, the public discourse can quickly develop a picture that does not match reality, rather than a more nuanced conversation about what actually happened.”
The workshop connects to Roman’s wider research. As a psychologist, her focus is ‘self-concept’: how we understand who we are, shaped by our experiences and the people closest to us. She argues that how young people perceive the police is tied to how they perceive themselves. These perceptions are then held in place by their bonds to friends and family.
“Importantly, the suspect in each case is actually being enacted by a real police officer,” says Roman. “So you are in virtual reality, pretending to be a police officer, responding to a situation. But behind that avatar, you also have a real officer performing the actions and speaking to you.”
This creates a setup in which the pretend officers are exposed to a realistic and fluid situation that closely matches what real officers encounter, followed by an opportunity to then discuss their experience with a police officer.
The scenarios also have clear potential for training. New recruits gain a safe space to rehearse how they might respond to volatile situations, and to talk those responses through with their supervisors afterwards.
“New recruits go through an identity transformation when they become officers, because they take on a persona,” she explains. “I would no longer be just Gabriela. I would be Gabriela the Police Officer. When you put the uniform on and take on that responsibility towards the community, your self-concept changes too. So, with new recruits, getting them onto the right self-concept and building it into their existing identity can really help their community relationships and how they do the job.”
“Police reform is happening at different paces, and with some success. What this project tries to do is rebuild the bridge of trust from the other end, to bring us closer to understanding the humanity of the officers behind the uniform.”