PRESS RELEASE
LOS ANGELES — Each year, the Peace Officers Association of Los Angeles County (POALAC) hosts the Centurion Awards gala to honor the county’s finest men and women in law enforcement. The annual ceremony recognizes excellence in the fields such as Investigations, Community Policing, Training, and many others hosted at the Town and Gown ballroom on the University of Southern California campus.
This year, one of LAPD’s finest was recognized for outstanding achievement in training – specifically for work with virtual reality. On October 30th, 2024, Sergeant II Jonathan Lebel received his Centurion Award for his dedication in overseeing the Virtual Reality Training Unit (VRTU) over the past three years using a system from V-Armed. During his time managing the LAPD’s VRTU, Sgt-II Lebel has led a group of trainers to create a variety of curriculum to serve the greatest training needs of the Los Angeles Police.
“This award is really a validation of what we’re doing,” says Sgt-II Lebel. “I’ve been doing training for a long time, and V-Armed has allowed me to do things I’ve wanted to for years. To actually be able to enact it is really exciting, and obviously being honored here for this really shows how much myself and my team have been able to make it happen and see results.”
Using the 10-person fully-immersive police training simulator, Lebel and team have crafted VR training programs for de-escalation, use of force, tactical operators, crowd control, POST certification, and many more.
“VR is such an emerging market, there’s so many people trying to do it. And I think the fact that the programs we’ve put together, and the way we’ve been able to use this tool to make it really impact the students - that’s what is going to get agencies to see the value of what we’re doing. To see that this is real, this is now, this is happening.”
When asked what he is most proud of in receiving this award, Sgt-II Lebel said, “I’m most proud of my guys, my officers that are putting together these trainings and I can see them grow into incredible instructors and connect with these audiences. Being able to see the look on the students faces of realization or understanding a concept they haven’t understood before. So really that connection with my instructors and with my students is the most rewarding thing of all. “
Also in attendance at the Centurion Awards was V-Armed CEO, Ezra Krausz, there to cheer on one of the most innovative users of his products. That evening, Krausz noted, “The LAPD VR unit was one of our first customers, and when you put a well-designed VR system in the hands of a very well-managed VR unit, the sky is the limit, really. We constantly work together with the LAPD team to develop more capabilities. Lebel’s team understands the (virtual reality) medium, and that shows in the way they use the system.”
What’s next on the horizon for the LAPD’s VR Training Unit? Sgt-II Lebel adds, “What’s really exciting is that we’ve gotten enough traction that there’s consideration to build a structure specific to what we’re doing. Right now we’re sharing space, and the last few years have been a validation study for the city and the department, and I think we’ve definitely validated it. Now we have some pressure so we can schedule our own time. We could run this night and day, be able to bring in units from all over and build out more extensive training plans because we would be in charge of the schedule.”