January 29th, 2025 by WCBC Radio

Allegany County has new virtual training for state, county and city law enforcement.  Sheriff Craig Robertson told WCBC the $350,000, 360-degree wrap-around simulator from VirTra puts an officer in the middle of a target practice field or a real-life scenario with just a click of a button. “When it comes to what we call judgmental shooting which is putting an officer in a situation to determine whether it is a threat situation or a nonthreat situation, this is beyond belief from what we had the ability to do before.  And it’s going to make all the office a lot better and feel a lot more better about themselves, feel a lot more comfortable in dealing with certain situations.”

Rob Fout, owner of The Gun Shop in Ridgeley, was able to try it out. “I’ve used several scenarios and simulators in the past and this one is actually very good.  It is a well-designed, three-sixty. You have bad guys all the way around you and you have a real-life scenario.”