Kerala police academy plugs into VR to simulate crime scenes

Virtual Reality is being used by the Kerala Police Academy in Thrissur to help trainees and new recruits simulate lifelike representations of crime scenes

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A visitor tests VR-based crime scene simulator at Huddle Global event in Trivandrum. (Image source: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

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“Sometimes simulating these environments is difficult due to the logistics involved. So training becomes difficult. Such projects will help officers to be in that environment, feel it and work through the crime scene,” Deepthy Mohan, Assistant General Manager at Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council, explains how Virtual Reality, or VR, can help train police officers better understand a crime scene.

The immersive technology of VR simulates an alternate world or reality and is increasingly used in video games as well as new emerging platforms tapping into the potential of the Metaverse. Now, this immersive technology is being used by the Kerala Police Academy in Thrissur to help trainees and new recruits simulate lifelike representations of crime scenes, giving them an idea of how to move through the environment as if they had already been there and how to act in that situation.

The VR simulator is currently being beta tested by the Kerala Police Academy, Thrissur. (Image credit: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

“When you are immersed in Virtual Reality, you will really come to know how the environment works, what is the process of collecting the pieces of evidence, gathering data and taking notes,” Mohan told indianexpress.com on the sidelines of ‘Huddle Global’, Asia’s largest tech conclave organised by Kerala Startup Mission (KSUM) in Kovalam, Trivandrum. The project, which has been in the making for a year, is a joint initiative between Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council (KDI-SC) and the Kerala Police Academy.

The project, which has been in the making for a year, is a joint initiative between Kerala Development and Innovation Strategic Council (KDI-SC) and the Kerala Police Academy. (Image source: Anuj Bhatia/Indian Express)

To develop the VR-based crime scene simulator, the Kerala Police Academy provided the data, based on which 3D models are created of different crime scenes. “The idea is to teach a trainee how a real crisis scenario looks without going to an actual crime scene,” said Amal PJ, Project Executive, at Kerala Startup Mission.

VR is far from mass consumer adoption and is still very much in the “early adopter” phase due to the lack of use cases and the high cost of headsets. But VR has significant potential in training beyond theory in a controlled yet realistic environment.

“Our objective is to complete the pilot and give it to the department. So it’s up to them how they want to scale it to other academies,” Mohan said about the project’s future.

Anuj Bhatia

Anuj Bhatia is a personal technology writer at indianexpress.com who has been covering smartphones, personal computers, gaming, apps, and lifestyle tech actively since 2011. He specialises in writing longer-form feature articles and explainers on trending tech topics. His unique interests encompass delving into vintage tech, retro gaming and composing in-depth narratives on the intersection of history, technology, and popular culture. He covers major international tech conferences and product launches from the world's biggest and most valuable tech brands including Apple, Google and others. At the same time, he also extensively covers indie, home-grown tech startups. Prior to joining The Indian Express in late 2016, he served as a senior tech writer at My Mobile magazine and previously held roles as a reviewer and tech writer at Gizbot. Anuj holds a postgraduate degree from Banaras Hindu University. You can find Anuj on Linkedin. Email: anuj.bhatia@indianexpress.com ... Read More

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