By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Christian Rivas, a former police officer with the Great Bend Police Department, had some ideas when he transitioned to his new role as an instructor in Barton Community College's criminal justice program. In the fall of 2023, he was asked which one big improvement would best benefit students in the program. In January, Barton became the first and only college in Kansas to offer the Apex Officer virtual reality training for justice students.
"It's really important from the student aspect because it gives them an opportunity to experience those real-life situations without putting them in danger and keeping them safe," Rivas said. "In criminal justice, it's hard to put someone into a situation where they're dealing with someone who is having a mental health crisis. It's just not feasible. But with this system, we can help them have that scenario and have them communicate through it. If something goes bad, it's all within virtual reality so there's no real danger there."
Rivas was part of a group that applied for a Kansas Board of Regents Innovative Technology Grant. That fell through due to a lack of appropriate matching funds, but the Board of Regents agreed the college would benefit from the technology and suggested an alternative grant. Through a special populations grant and a partnership with the Barton Foundation, Rivas was able to purchase the technology last December.
"Whether it's a traffic stop, a person dealing with a mental health crisis and you have to talk them down and de-escalate them - really any situation you can think of, we place them in the scenario," said Rivas.
Rivas or staff can control how the subject responds to the students, which can be tested upon entering the program, then re-tested later in the semester to check progress.
The VR system is mobile with its own power source and router. It takes approximately 30 minutes to set up in the event community partners want to use the technology. Great Bend Police Chief Steve Haulmark, the Barton County Sheriff's Office, and Barton County Communications wrote letters of support for the grant, and staff from Ellsworth Correctional Facility have also expressed interest in using the system.