The U.S. Ambassador in Costa Rica, S. Fitzgerald Haney presented the donation of six virtual shooting ranges for the use of the Costa Rican police bodies.

The value of the virtual shooting ranges is estimated in USD$789,000.00 and the donation includes the training of 10 representatives in the adequate use of this technology; these 10 individuals will then be in charge of preparing other officials.

“The virtual shooting ranges do not replace the regular shooting practice with real firearms, but they are a great tool to train and improve the skills of the officers in stressful and complicated situations”, explained the release by the Public Security office.

Each of the virtual shooting ranges has a 180 degree panoramic vision, the system presents officers with different scenarios that they could face in real life.

Five of the shooting ranges will go to the police officers of the Ministry of Security and one for the penitentiary police.

The Minister of Security, Gustavo Mata, stated that this donation is of great help for the institution since the cost of having real shooting range practice is extremely high, “the idea is that this gives them an opportunity to practice and when they are ready we can take them to the shooting range, this also brings them closer to a real situation they could face In their day to day.

“Part of our job in the embassy is to give our government a little more information on the work being done here, the Costa Rican police has been doing a good job, and that gave us the opportunity to provide more support in terms of training and equipment as well as help achieve a more professional level in the police work with the purpose of improving the security in the country”, explained ambassador Haney.