Case Study: Laconia Police Department achieves realistic, immersive scenario-based training with Axon VR

Creating realistic scenarios for law enforcement students with Axon VR

Laconia Police Department, via Captain William Clary’s law enforcement program at the Huot Career and Technical Center, faced a major training challenge: scenario-based exercises lacked realism because students had to use classmates, a parking‑lot car, or classroom doors, which led to giggling, poor role‑play, and limited exposure to complex situations like mental‑health crises. In 2022 Clary turned to Axon and adopted Axon VR to bring immersive, repeatable scenario training into the curriculum.

Axon delivered a two‑headset Axon VR setup (with optional projection and instructor monitoring) that lets students experience scenarios from multiple viewpoints and exposes them to realistic mental‑health and community interactions. The Axon VR solution integrated easily with existing lessons, improved empathy and report‑writing consistency, and boosted student engagement and recruitment—Clary reports higher follow‑through into law enforcement and related college programs (including recent graduates entering local police and the military)—with local agencies expressing strong demand for his students.

Laconia Police Department

William Clary

Former