While the law enforcement agencies in the DC region are struggling with endowment challenges, there may be aid on the way to the county of Fairfax, in Virginia.
While the law enforcement agencies in the DC region are struggling with endowment challenges, there may be aid on the way to the county of Fairfax, in Virginia.
Applicants at the Fairfax County Police Service increased by 10% in 2024, according to police data, and the agency suspects that the emphasis on emerging technology could be the source of the boost.
“We adopt many innovative technologies very early, which, I think, contributes to the reason why people choose the county of Fairfax,” said deputy chief Wilson Lee.
Criminal Justice Academy in Chantilly, Virginia was the first of the state to use artificial intelligence, said Lee.
The Academy is associated with a company that develops AI technology, and recruits receive missions that include the development of interview issues and the creation of a relationship with someone. The technology notes the work, said Lee, and after the mission, the recruits obtain a score evaluating their overall performance.
“Of some of our recruit surveys to which we have given these assignments, this has enormously helped them in terms of developing their questions, how to speak to someone, when they really have to be put to the test,” said Lee.
The AI tool allows recruits to connect this practice “at their convenience, at home, make them a little more comfortable in terms of speaking to people,” said Lee.
In a padded room of the academy, during this time, recruits use virtual reality technology to help in the training based on scenarios “without very large logistical demand at the Academy,” said Lee.
The VR scenarios include different types of calls for service and, generally, recruits are presented with a scenario of suspicious person and must speak to the VR to determine if there is a crime that has occurred. A computer controlled by the instructors will dictate the action, and the recruit will respond to everything that the computer does, said Lee.
“We are the first to do it on a large scale, and our broad adoption of this technology and making it more based on repetition and normalization, this is what brings us out,” said Lee.
The agency also emphasizes the well-being programs of officers, he said, and the Academy is one of the few to have an internal sports coach. Recruits and outgoing officers can visit to go through “everything about physiotherapy, everything it can do to prevent injuries”.
Lee said that the boost in applications last year would mean “more officers on the street and would help service calls, and make our community safer”.
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