Reporter Ferry hesitantly shuffles his feet out of a virtual elevator onto a plank hundreds of feet above the ground.

I’m not a big fear-of-heights guy and consider myself quite rational.

But, when I was asked to step out of an elevator onto a plank maybe eight inches wide, hundreds of feet above the ground, I was very hesitant… even though I knew it wasn’t real.

This week, law enforcement agents from all over Warren County participated in a three-part training event put on by the Northern Pennsylvania Regional College (NPRC) and the Emergency Response Training and Certification Association (ERTCA).

I covered that event. It just so happened that I was there when the last few officers went through some virtual reality scenarios.

ERTCA trainers asked if I would like to give it a try.

“Absolutely.”

I am not trained as a police officer, so the scenarios they were put through didn’t make any sense for me.

As I walked toward the center of the square area marked out at Youngsville Volunteer Fire Department Isaac looked at Pat and said, “The Elevator?”

I got the headset on and looked around my surroundings.

There was an elevator just ahead of me and Isaac asked me to step in and press the button marked ‘plank’ with the VR device I had in my hand.

That was easy.

As I rose many floors, I could see through the crack between the doors. I looked around. There were four buttons. I don’t remember the two below ‘plank.’ Near the floor, where you have to actually mean to look to find it, was ‘I’m short.’ I laughed.

The elevator stopped. The doors opened. There was a plank. No floor. No room. Just a plank over a long drop. There were buildings all around. I could hear sounds – I don’t remember them specifically because I was focused on the plank and trying to follow the instructions to step out onto it.

I knew I was in the fire hall. I knew there was no plank, just a solid floor many steps in every direction.

Isaac repeated the instruction to step out onto the plank.

“I don’t want to,” I said.

“Just step out onto the plank.”

After several more seconds of hesitation, I shuffled my feet sideways onto the plank – well short of the end. I couldn’t see those feet – another dead giveaway that I was in VR – but it didn’t matter.

When I was outside the elevator, both feet angled, almost perpendicular to the plank, I looked away from my building, straight ahead. The elevator doors could have closed. For all I know, the building could have disappeared. I wasn’t looking back there. I told myself it was because I wanted to look around and see the sights. I also wasn’t looking down.

“Look down.”

I groaned, but I looked down. It wasn’t so bad.

“Have you ever been skydiving?”

“Yes, and it was awesome.”

“Good, you have a parachute on your back.”

— — —

“Go ahead and step off the plank.”

I looked left. There was a large metal vent sticking out of the facade there. And, there was another to the right. I wouldn’t be able to safely step off to either side. (I still knew I was in the fire hall.)

I had to shuffle my feet to the end of the plank.

I wanted to step off and fall – that’s the awesome part of skydiving for me.

I remembered that I shouldn’t lean forward and fall face-down… there’s a floor there that would hit me in the face if I did.

Still, knowing there was a floor was just a complication. I had to work not to lean forward and to expect the floor to meet my right foot off the end of the plank.

I accelerated toward the ground and was getting awfully close without slowing. I “hit” the ground, went straight through it into a bright white light.

“Oops. Your chute didn’t open.”

Being hesitant in the virtual reality meant I was susceptible to it. It meant something to me. My heart rate was up. I could feel the flush in my face. The officers faced more than the passive threat of falling in their scenarios. Every one I talked to said it was stressful.

After that, I traded in a VR handheld for a VR gun and got to go to the shooting range. This was better than the elevator – just like real shooting, but without the recoil. I did pretty well.

Then, perhaps because the instructors got to have fun while I was on the elevator, I got to have fun. They put me in an alley and told me to shoot bad guys, but not good guys.

In addition to 360-degrees of alley, there were balconies and such above me to keep me guessing.

I shot a bunch of bad guys. I shot one good guy – who was between two bad guys. I recognized him, but apparently got him anyway. I didn’t get all the bad guys. They disappeared – without shooting me – if I didn’t get them quickly enough.

The alley was fun. I wasn’t vested in it. It didn’t feel dangerous.

The elevator was “real” and I understood how the officers could feel the stress of their scenarios.

The scenarios reflected dangerous situations. I hope they never find themselves in those situations in real life, but, if they do, thanks to NPRC and ERTCA, I suspect they are at least a little better prepared for them than they were before.