CHINESE POLICE TAKE A SHOT AT HIGH-TECH TRAINING

GRAYSLAKE -- The so-called Golden Triangle drug-producing region of
Myanmar, Laos and Thailand is a long way from Grayslake. But drugs from the
region enter the United States every day, and some probably find their way
to Lake County, even to tidy Grayslake.

That's why Luo Shiwen brought 13 law-enforcement colleagues from China's
Yunnan province to the Criminal Justice Institute at the College of Lake
County.

As director of the Public Security Bureau of Dehong Prefecture, Shiwen
needs to learn everything he can about the newest developments in policing.
Shiwen's territory borders the Golden Triangle.

"When the producers of opium and heroin make enough of their drugs to ship,
they have to move part of the loads through Yunnan province to get it to
the rest of the world," Shiwen said through an interpreter. "If we can stop
it at our border, it won't make it to the rest of the world."

Shiwen and his colleagues are in the United States on a monthlong study
program arranged by the Office of International Justice and Management
Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The office has helped
train Chinese officials since 1992, said Joe Zhou, director.

When they return to China in mid-November, the officers will have studied
many of the latest tools and training techniques used by the largest police
agencies in the country, including the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration and metropolitan departments in Chicago and New York.

At the College of Lake County last week, the officers learned about the
Range 2000 Simulator and the Advanced Driving Simulator, both
virtual-reality training systems used by U.S. police.

With the Range 2000, officers use a replica of a Glock semiautomatic
handgun to fire a harmless laser at criminals in various scenarios
projected on a screen.

A computer calculates where a bullet would have hit, what damage it would
have done and whether or not shooting was a good call in the first place.

Faced with a scenario on the Range 2000 featuring a domestic battery, Xie
Zhong decides to shoot when the batterer drops his victim and reaches for a
gun.

Seconds later, the machine tells him he showed good judgment, not just by
shooting, but by inflicting a nonlethal leg wound to stop the offender
without killing him.

"The police officers here have very good equipment and work very
efficiently," Zhong said later. "We have learned a lot here."

More than 3,200 police officers took classes at the Criminal Justice
Institute last year, said Robert Rubel, training coordinator. Students have
come from other counties and states, but never from other countries.

"This is really great for us," Rubel said. "We're happy to participate."

Checked-by: Joel W. Johnson