A Virtual Environment to Test Police and Public Awareness of Anti-Social Behaviour Indicators

Abstract

Anti-social behaviour is a problem in many modern-day communities. However, the ability of the police and other associated agencies to tackle this problem is limited due to the difficulties of gaining experience through training in the field, which is time-consuming and often dangerous. Virtual environment technology can provide a safe and controlled environment to assist police officer training in simulated urban environments. Public perceptions of anti-social behaviour are also important and virtual environments can be used to allow police practitioners to gain insight into how the public experience anti-social behaviour. A virtual environment system has been constructed to support police officers becoming more observant and confident at spotting indicators of anti-social behaviour. An evaluation study was conducted with practitioners and members of the public to compare the virtual environment with a paper-based alternative. Performance metrics were collected during the study and post-session questionnaires were used to evaluate the perceptions of 36 participants in regard to their experiences with the system. Performance in the virtual environment was comparable with a paper-based method. In addition, both practitioner and public participants positively received the virtual environment, with the majority indicating a preference for virtual environment simulations over conventional paper-based activities. This has implications for the further use of virtual environments as such systems can provide dynamic experiences over a wide variety of scenario-based environments.