A Critical Review of Virtual and Extended Reality Immersive
Police Training: Application Areas, Benefits & Vulnerabilities

Lena Podoletz; Mark McGill; David McIlhatton; Jill Marshall; Niamh Healy; Leonie Maria Tanczer

doi:10.1145/3641825.3687707

A Critical Review of Virtual and Extended Reality Immersive Police Training: Application Areas, Benefits & Vulnerabilities

Lena Podoletz, Mark McGill, David McIlhatton, Jill Marshall, Niamh Healy, Leonie Maria Tanczer

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

31 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Virtual and Extended Reality (VR/XR) headsets have promised to enhance police training through the delivery of immersive simulations able to be conducted anywhere, anytime. However, little consideration has been given to reviewing the evidenced benefits and potential issues posed by XR police training. In this paper, we summarise the evidenced usage and benefits of XR police training through a formative targeted literature review (n=41 publications).We then reflect on the prospective technical, security, social and legal issues posed by XR police training, identifying four areas where issues or vulnerabilities exist: training content, trainees and trainers, systems and devices, and state and institutional stakeholders. We highlight significant concerns around e.g. the validity of training; the psychological impact and risks of trauma; the safety and privacy risks posed to trainees and trainers; and the risks to policing institutions. We aim to encourage end-user communities(e.g. police forces) to more openly reflect on the risks of immersive training, so we can ultimately move towards transparent, validated,trusted training that is evidenced to improve policing outcomes.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	VRST '24: Proceedings of the 30th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology
Editors	Benjamin Weyers, Daniel Zielasko
Publisher	ACM
Number of pages	21
ISBN (Electronic)	979-8-4007-0535-9
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3641825.3687707
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 9 Oct 2024
Event	VRST '24 - 30th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology - Trier, Germany Duration: 9 Oct 2024 → 11 Oct 2024

Conference

Conference	VRST '24 - 30th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology
Abbreviated title	VRST '24
Country/Territory	Germany
City	Trier
Period	9/10/24 → 11/10/24

Bibliographical note

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/),
which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is properly cited

Keywords

Police Training
Extended Reality
Virtual Reality

Access to Document

10.1145/3641825.3687707Licence: CC BY

McIlhatton2024VORFinal published version, 1.04 MBLicence: CC BY

Cite this

Podoletz, L., McGill, M., McIlhatton, D., Marshall, J., Healy, N., & Tanczer, L. M. (2024). A Critical Review of Virtual and Extended Reality Immersive Police Training: Application Areas, Benefits & Vulnerabilities. In B. Weyers, & D. Zielasko (Eds.), VRST '24: Proceedings of the 30th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology Article 38 ACM. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1145/3641825.3687707

A Critical Review of Virtual and Extended Reality Immersive Police Training: Application Areas, Benefits & Vulnerabilities. / Podoletz, Lena; McGill, Mark; McIlhatton, David et al.
VRST '24: Proceedings of the 30th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology. ed. / Benjamin Weyers; Daniel Zielasko. ACM, 2024. 38.

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

Podoletz, L, McGill, M, McIlhatton, D, Marshall, J, Healy, N & Tanczer, LM 2024, A Critical Review of Virtual and Extended Reality Immersive Police Training: Application Areas, Benefits & Vulnerabilities. in B Weyers & D Zielasko (eds), VRST '24: Proceedings of the 30th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology., 38, ACM, VRST '24 - 30th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology, Trier, Germany, 9/10/24. https://doi.org/10.1145/3641825.3687707

Podoletz L, McGill M, McIlhatton D, Marshall J, Healy N, Tanczer LM. A Critical Review of Virtual and Extended Reality Immersive Police Training: Application Areas, Benefits & Vulnerabilities. In Weyers B, Zielasko D, editors, VRST '24: Proceedings of the 30th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology. ACM. 2024. 38 Epub 2024 Oct 9. doi: 10.1145/3641825.3687707

@inbook{08042da3a622499884641f21c994cef9,

title = "A Critical Review of Virtual and Extended Reality Immersive Police Training: Application Areas, Benefits & Vulnerabilities",

abstract = "Virtual and Extended Reality (VR/XR) headsets have promised to enhance police training through the delivery of immersive simulations able to be conducted anywhere, anytime. However, little consideration has been given to reviewing the evidenced benefits and potential issues posed by XR police training. In this paper, we summarise the evidenced usage and benefits of XR police training through a formative targeted literature review (n=41 publications).We then reflect on the prospective technical, security, social and legal issues posed by XR police training, identifying four areas where issues or vulnerabilities exist: training content, trainees and trainers, systems and devices, and state and institutional stakeholders. We highlight significant concerns around e.g. the validity of training; the psychological impact and risks of trauma; the safety and privacy risks posed to trainees and trainers; and the risks to policing institutions. We aim to encourage end-user communities(e.g. police forces) to more openly reflect on the risks of immersive training, so we can ultimately move towards transparent, validated,trusted training that is evidenced to improve policing outcomes.",

keywords = "Police Training, Extended Reality, Virtual Reality",

author = "Lena Podoletz and Mark McGill and David McIlhatton and Jill Marshall and Niamh Healy and Tanczer, {Leonie Maria}",

note = "This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited; VRST '24 - 30th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology, VRST '24 ; Conference date: 09-10-2024 Through 11-10-2024",

year = "2024",

month = oct,

day = "9",

doi = "10.1145/3641825.3687707",

language = "English",

editor = "Benjamin Weyers and Daniel Zielasko",

booktitle = "VRST '24: Proceedings of the 30th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology",

publisher = "ACM",

address = "United States",

}

TY - CHAP

T1 - A Critical Review of Virtual and Extended Reality Immersive Police Training

T2 - VRST '24 - 30th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology

AU - Podoletz, Lena

AU - McGill, Mark

AU - McIlhatton, David

AU - Marshall, Jill

AU - Healy, Niamh

AU - Tanczer, Leonie Maria

N1 - This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

PY - 2024/10/9

Y1 - 2024/10/9

N2 - Virtual and Extended Reality (VR/XR) headsets have promised to enhance police training through the delivery of immersive simulations able to be conducted anywhere, anytime. However, little consideration has been given to reviewing the evidenced benefits and potential issues posed by XR police training. In this paper, we summarise the evidenced usage and benefits of XR police training through a formative targeted literature review (n=41 publications).We then reflect on the prospective technical, security, social and legal issues posed by XR police training, identifying four areas where issues or vulnerabilities exist: training content, trainees and trainers, systems and devices, and state and institutional stakeholders. We highlight significant concerns around e.g. the validity of training; the psychological impact and risks of trauma; the safety and privacy risks posed to trainees and trainers; and the risks to policing institutions. We aim to encourage end-user communities(e.g. police forces) to more openly reflect on the risks of immersive training, so we can ultimately move towards transparent, validated,trusted training that is evidenced to improve policing outcomes.

AB - Virtual and Extended Reality (VR/XR) headsets have promised to enhance police training through the delivery of immersive simulations able to be conducted anywhere, anytime. However, little consideration has been given to reviewing the evidenced benefits and potential issues posed by XR police training. In this paper, we summarise the evidenced usage and benefits of XR police training through a formative targeted literature review (n=41 publications).We then reflect on the prospective technical, security, social and legal issues posed by XR police training, identifying four areas where issues or vulnerabilities exist: training content, trainees and trainers, systems and devices, and state and institutional stakeholders. We highlight significant concerns around e.g. the validity of training; the psychological impact and risks of trauma; the safety and privacy risks posed to trainees and trainers; and the risks to policing institutions. We aim to encourage end-user communities(e.g. police forces) to more openly reflect on the risks of immersive training, so we can ultimately move towards transparent, validated,trusted training that is evidenced to improve policing outcomes.

KW - Police Training

KW - Extended Reality

KW - Virtual Reality

U2 - 10.1145/3641825.3687707

DO - 10.1145/3641825.3687707

M3 - Chapter

BT - VRST '24: Proceedings of the 30th ACM Symposium on Virtual Reality Software and Technology

A2 - Weyers, Benjamin

A2 - Zielasko, Daniel

PB - ACM

Y2 - 9 October 2024 through 11 October 2024

ER -