SINGAPORE - Front-line police officers now have greater access to simulation training with the opening of a new satellite centre at Tanglin Police Division. Officers can practise reacting to various emergency scenarios, such as when people are trapped in their homes, attempt suicide, or if a suspicious parcel is spotted in public. Launched on April 9, the satellite centre is an addition to the simulation centre in the Home Team Academy (HTA) in Choa Chu Kang that opened roughly three years ago. HTA's simulation centre focuses primarily on training officers to manage large-scale security incidents, such as riots, and joint operations. The new satellite centre extends simulation training beyond this group to include front-line officers who operate on a smaller scale - responding to 999 emergency calls, for example. Around 10 such sessions have been conducted so far. As in a virtual reality game, officers in different rooms watch scenes unfold in 3D on their screens as they react and communicate through their headsets. The satellite centre is split into three sections - the control room, command post and on-scene pods. The directors of the exercise - up to two of them - are stationed ...