Mental illness significantly increases the risk of arrest during police encounters, with 25% of those with mental health conditions reporting arrest histories. Studies reveal frequent use of excessive force and 25% of fatal police encounters involve individuals with mental illness.

Traditional police training offers limited opportunities for officers to practice handling complex civilian interactions, especially with individuals experiencing mental health crises. This lack of hands-on experience leaves officers ill-prepared to navigate these situations with the necessary empathy and de-escalation skills, often leading to poor outcomes.

New research by Florida Atlantic University provides a promising avenue for addressing this gap using virtual reality (VR) in a realistic, controlled environment.

The study explored how deeply law enforcement officers become immersed in a virtual training environment and evaluated their empathy and sympathy toward a non-player character (NPC) with schizophrenic psychosis. Sympathy involves feeling concern or pity for someone else’s hardship, whereas empathy requires a deeper level of engagement to understand and share in another person’s emotional experience from their perspective.

Researchers measured 40 police officers’ immersion using a 28-item Presence Questionnaire and analyzed the relationships between immersion, empathy and sympathy using statistical methods.

Results of the study, published in the journal Criminal Behavior and Mental Health, reveal that the police officers who participated in the VR mental health training reported moderate to high levels of immersion, suggesting that such training could complement traditional methods. Most of the officers felt engaged with the virtual environment, with sensory engagement and the naturalness of interactions being key factors influencing immersion. While some officers experienced initial confusion or disorientation, these feelings were linked to greater empathy in their responses.

“This is where it gets particularly interesting,” said Lisa M. Dario, Ph.D., senior author and an associate professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice within FAU’s College of Social Work and Criminal Justice. “The feelings of disorientation often led to higher levels of empathy later on. It’s a compelling connection. One possible explanation is that the initial confusion or disorientation prompts officers to break away from their usual patterns of thinking and viewing the world. This disruption may make them more open to understanding the perspective of the non-player character, ultimately increasing their empathy toward the situation.”

Findings also show that sympathy-related items indicated stronger correlations with each other than empathy-related items, highlighting the distinct nature of these emotional responses. However, both sympathy and empathy scales demonstrated strong internal coherence, with significant correlations between items like “I felt I could relate” and “I felt what they felt,” which further supports the effectiveness of the empathy scale.

In addition, both cognitive and emotional aspects of presence in the virtual environment contributed to how officers empathized with and sympathized with the virtual characters. Officers who felt more immersed or engaged were more likely to form deeper emotional connections with the characters.

“Factors such as immersion, engagement and unfamiliarity with the VR headset emerged as indicators of stronger emotional connections,” said Dario. “Our study suggests that improving these elements in future VR simulations could enhance their effectiveness in fostering empathy and sympathy, reinforcing the importance of a well-designed virtual environment to promote deeper emotional and cognitive engagement.”

Other findings from the study show:

• 75% of participants felt they could control events in the virtual environment, with an even higher proportion reporting that the environment was responsive to their actions.
• 80% of participants agreed that all their senses were engaged, with no one reporting a lack of auditory engagement.
• About two-thirds found interactions natural, and more than 70% felt their movement was natural in the virtual space.
• Participants reported high awareness of both the real world and their VR devices, which may have impacted their immersion.
• 57% of participants felt they learned new techniques to improve performance.

“Police are both willing and able to engage in VR exercises to better understand their responses to people in mental health crises,” said Dario. “The next step is to explore how this tool can enhance real-life responses. As VR technology becomes more integrated into law enforcement, the evidence supporting its effectiveness continues to grow.”

The study co-author is Jesse Saginor, Ph.D., ACIP, professor in the School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation at the University of Maryland.

-FAU-