Harvest Foundation gives law enforcement officers new tool to help save lives

Foundation awarded grant for situational awareness training simulator

HENRY COUNTY, Va. – Some local law enforcement officers will soon have a new tool to help them save lives.

The Harvest Foundation has awarded the Piedmont Criminal Justice Training Academy a $10,000 grant for a MILO training simulator.

It has built-in scenarios based on situations that have actually happened.

Officers will interact with the simulator just as they would in a real-life situation.

The academy has not had a simulator for about four years since the previous broke down.

"You can go from verbal (communication) to hands on to pepper spray, the Taser and all the way up to lethal force," Patrick Henry Community College Police Chief and academy board Chairman Gary Dove said.

"This is the closest that we can recreate the stress that they may actually encounter, and will actually encounter, out on the street," Henry County Sheriff and academy board member Lane Perry said.

The simulator is expected to up and running early next year.