NORTHUMBERLAND – It had been a challenge for local police officers to find some specific training around here, but now Northumberland Borough Police have opened a training center for any officer to use. Northumberland officers officially opened its River Valley Training Center, highlighted by a 130-degree curved screen training simulator.
Officer Matthew Lauver is the Firearms Instructor and Use of Force Trainer for Northumberland Police, “So far, it’s been very positive feedback. We’ve had multiple agencies in here to use it. Northumberland County Probation has been here, some Sunbury officers, Point Township officers have been here, officers from the Northumberland County Sherriff’s office have been here for training.”
Lauver says the simulator is a laser shot system based out of Texas. It allows officers to train at a lower cost, without using live ammunition, and it can also offer flexible scheduling, “It helps with our use of force training, with our firearms training. The U.S. Supreme Court actually came out with a list of training benchmarks we must meet every year, and this system covers all those benchmarks.”
Lauver says the center is open to anyone in law enforcement, not just specifically for officers around the area.
He says the simulator offers officers about 1,000 different real-life scenarios and effects, “They’re gonna bring in their own trainer and it’s going to be decision-making scenarios, it’s going to be shoot or no-shoot scenarios, and we can set up the simulator to do dark or low light training.”
Lauver says the scenarios allow officers to learn how to identify pre-attack indicators and how to conduct themselves in the scenarios. There’s even shooting drills, which can create some friendly competition. The cost to open the center was $115,000; Northumberland officers were given a $58,000 grant from State Representative Lynda Schlegel Culver to help cover the cost and had other donations.
