How The Fairfield, IL Police Department Used Ace Virtual Shooting to Get Measurably Better
If you've followed Ace for a while, you've heard us say it a hundred different ways: deliberate practice builds permanent skill, and improvement in Ace drives improvement in live-fire. Every now and then a story comes across our desk that doesn't just support the idea, it puts a number on it. This one came from the Fairfield, IL Police Department, straight from the top. It makes three things clear: Ace delivers individual skill improvement, Ace is extremely effective for duty use especially when deployed across a team, and Ace is proud to stand behind those who serve.
Ace Makes You Better. The Numbers Don’t Lie.
Chief Benjamin Lewis wanted proof that training in Ace Virtual Shooting would carry over to the live-fire range. In April, after becoming an enterprise customer, and, before anyone trained in Ace, his officers ran live fire baseline tests built around the fundamentals that decide real outcomes: dot acquisition, target transition, and rate of fire. For the next month they trained almost exclusively in Ace. Participants were required to shoot at least 5 courses of fire per week, 3 times each (i.e. Ace’s weekly drill series which equates to ~60 drill sessions over the test duration). Instead, due to Ace’s ease-of-use and engaging product offering, participants averaged roughly 600 drills per officer over the test duration, with the highest at close to 1,000 drills and the lowest still around 200 drills.
In May, Fairfield ran the exact same tests again. Every officer showed visible gains. Across the various drills, officers posted improvements of at least 17.2% and up to 125.8%. The most telling detail: the officers with the highest usage inside Ace posted the highest gains on the range. More deliberate reps equated to more significant measurable improvement.
Ace Is Built for Duty Use
We've always said Ace doesn't replace live fire, and Ace isn't trying to. What Ace does is enable quality repetitions despite an overpacked schedule, without burning ammo or dealing with range logistics. The fundamentals and skill improvement carry over. For a working department, that case is even sharper; the skills on the line are the same ones that will matter most in a moment when an officer's muscle memory falls back to their training.
We're Proud to Support Those Who Serve
A case study like Fairfield’s underscores our mission, and is inline with our values. It came from a Chief of Police who put his department's budget behind a decision, tested it, and produced real world skill transfer results. We appreciate the officers and leadership of the Fairfield Police Department, who train relentlessly, on duty and off, so they're ready when it matters most. Supporting our first responders, law enforcement, and military isn't a side benefit of what we do; it's a big part of why we do it. It's also why we offer our Enterprise Program for LE / MIL and our LE / MIL / First Responder Consumer Discount Program, so the people who protect others can train harder for less.
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