The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), Office of Justice Programs (OJP), Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) seeks applications for funding to develop emerging technologies designed to enhance law enforcement training programs.
Donor Name: Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA)
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 11/13/2023
Size of the Grant: $4,000,000
Grant Duration: 36 months
Details:
With this solicitation, BJA seeks to support a collaborative partnership between two or more universities to develop, design, and pilot a virtual reality training program designed to improve law enforcement interactions with all individuals, with an emphasis on deescalation tactics. New technologies, including virtual reality systems designed for use by police, allow for multiparticipant engagement and can be integrated into training programs focused on improving law enforcement encounters. Universities are required to partner to carry out the activities of the federal award; however only one applicant can apply.
Goals
This program seeks applications from a single university entity partnering with at minimum one other university to develop and pilot customized, multiparticipant, fully immersive, virtual and/or augmented reality-based training technology. The goal of the program is to develop a virtual reality regime that supports the implementation of emerging technologies utilized in scenario-based police training. Training should include evidence-based principles and should be designed to ensure the safety of police officers and the communities they serve.
Objectives
- Describe current capacity and experience leveraging new tools based on emerging virtual reality technologies to enhance and improve outcomes for law enforcement. Current capacity should include a description of each university partner and their respective experience, as well as an overview of the partnership and how it will contribute to the success of the project.
- Provide an overview of the process for developing fully immersive, multiparticipant, customized virtual reality technology designed to allow participants to engage with multiple users in virtual scenarios. This involves the design and development of complex situations law enforcement regularly encounters. The developed training should allow participants to communicate with one another in the virtual world and interact within the scenario using the issued equipment. The training must use evidence-based principles. The applicant must build outcome measures into the proposed new training tools to demonstrate effectiveness. Virtual reality scenarios should be customizable for the various environments in which officers currently operate (e.g., roadways, subways, shopping centers, schools, homes) and include modeling of physical barriers, environmental/weather changes, and other situational factors that result in crisis confrontations. The applicant must describe how this investment will benefit law enforcement agencies and their communities, as well as how the training developed will help officers develop critical judgment, situational awareness, and appropriate response tactics translatable to real-world situations.
- Develop policies and procedures for law enforcement agencies to integrate the new, immersive, virtual reality scenario-based training to allow multiple officers/ persons to simultaneously participate in the training as a means for officers to practice and for community members to experience crisis intervention and deescalation from the perspective of law enforcement. The training should be planned and developed in close partnership with end users including law enforcement, community partners, tactical experts, mental health experts, and other criminal justice and community stakeholders.
- Technology and training should be designed with transferability in mind so that this can be easily used and adapted by law enforcement agencies at little cost. This project seeks to develop a virtual reality training regime to ensure that law enforcement agencies nationwide have access to cutting-edge technology that enhances response with the goal of improved outcomes.
Funding Information
- Anticipated Total Amount to be Awarded Under Solicitation: $4,000,000
- Anticipated Maximum Dollar Amount of Awards: $4,000,000
Period of Performance
36
Eligibility Criteria
Public and State controlled institutions of higher education.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
