Polizei Bremen embraces VR surveillance
New standard
As a professional and progressive force, Polizei Bremen has become the first German police force to embrace VR-Surveillance to curb ethnic profiling in its ranks. With this move, Polizei Bremen has not only set a new standard, but also developed the first German scenario for VR training. This initiative now enables other police units in Germany to also start VR training.
Neutrality
Neutrality is a fundamental aspect of police operation. This means that the police must act impartially, without favouring or opposing any individual, group, political party or ideology.
Allegations
As also recently reported in the news "Link - Hundreds of German police officers linked to right-wing extremist views", police departments around the world are increasingly facing allegations of ethnic profiling. This practice has significant implications for individuals, communities and law enforcement agencies. For this and other reasons, police chiefs want their agencies to invest in programmes to increase public trust.
Part of these programmes includes professionalising police stops to prevent ethnic profiling.
Quest for a sustainable solution
However, attempts to improve officers' knowledge and skills to address potential bias against certain demographic groups have proven challenging and largely ineffective.
VR Surveillance
One effective way for people to become aware of their biases is through direct learning experiences. However, direct learning is difficult to facilitate. Role-playing games are time-consuming, actors are usually expensive, and simulation outcomes are difficult to compare because the circumstances leading to these outcomes may differ from each other.
Interactive Branching Scenario (IBS) in virtual reality (VR) offers a possibility. In VR, individuals can enjoy film realistic scenarios in a controlled environment, while IBS offers the opportunity to explore how different choices lead to different (more or less effective) outcomes. This makes IBS in VR an interesting choice for training to improve self and group efficiency.
Results
More than 15,000 officers in the Netherlands and Belgium have now been trained 1 or more times using VR Surveillance. Ethnic profiling is now a topic that can be properly discussed. There is increasing awareness around the topic and its impact. The extent to which this positively affects the professionalism of police stops is currently being investigated.
