Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara will announce state funding he has secured for the Schenectady Police Department to purchase and implement the VRPD system.

VRPD is a virtual reality (VR) de-escalation training tool developed by Catapult Games. Police trainees using the VR system are able to engage in simulated real-world situations that require them to determine how to best de-escalate encounters while on patrol. An operator controls the type of situations the trainee may be subjected to from a nearby computer and can offer a number of changing environments.