Page 32 - ARUBA TODAY

A32 FEATURE
Tuesday 24 april 2018
Mob Museum in Vegas lets visitors play police officer

By REGINA GARCIA CANO hibit, you’ll realize that’s
Associated Press nearly impossible to do and
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A home to do it on a precision-type
invader wearing a ski mask basis because there are so
is holding a woman hos- many factors.
tage in her bedroom. A You have to know your
police officer immediately backdrop. So, if you miss
starts giving verbal com- shooting at the elbow,
mands, ordering the man what’s behind? Is it an inno-
to let the woman go, but cent citizen that’s standing
the intruder refuses and back there or is it a child or
lunges toward the officer is it someone else?
with a weapon in hand. At a nearby exhibit, visitors
The officer then raises her are immersed in a “CSI”-
gun and shoots the man. type environment where
The officer in this training they can try to match bul-
exercise was a British tour- lets that were fired from
ist, and the victim and in- the same firearm by com-
truder were on a life-size paring striations and learn
video projection inside the about the intricacies of a
Mob Museum in Las Vegas. fingerprint.
The visitor was participat- The sketch of a real crime
ing in a new hands-on ex- scene from 2016 and items
hibit that arms visitors with In this April 12, 2018, photo, people look at an interactive exhibit at the Crime Lab Experience in that would be collected at
a pistol that shoots plastic the Mob Museum in Las Vegas. a scene are on display.
pellets and puts them in Associated Press People can play coroner,
simulated situations similar pose an imminent threat. on the role of officer and viously headed the depart- too. A horizontal screen dis-
to those police encounter “It did feel real. It was the begin to see the inside of a ment’s team that handled plays renderings of cadav-
in real life. first time I ever held a gun,” home. officer-involved shootings, ers, and visitors are prompt-
The courthouse-turned- London resident Lesley Mor- “Police,” they are encour- told The Associated Press ed to answer a series of
museum in downtown Las ris said after participating in aged to yell to announce he hopes the exhibit will ed- questions to try to deter-
Vegas for years has show- the exhibit. themselves. The video then ucate and change some mine the cause of death.
cased the area’s storied “It was really informative. shows the bedroom with people’s perspectives on The cases are based on the
past in organized crime. We don’t have guns or any- the man holding the wom- what police face when deaths of famous mobsters.
But visitors now can also thing like that in England.” an. it comes to using deadly And below it all, people in-
learn about the complexity She added her heart rate Panels outside the exhibit force, especially in an era terested in learning more
of the decisions that officers went up as she walked explain the use-of-force when shootings by police about the Prohibition era
face when they encounter through the exhibit. policies and de-escalation have become a high-pro- or just looking to have fun,
situations that may require In the case of the home tactics used by the Las Ve- file issue around the coun- can visit a working speak-
the use of deadly force. invasion scenario, visitors gas Metropolitan Police try. easy in the museum’s base-
The museum’s most recent see a video that shows the Department, as well as sta- “A lot of people wonder ment.
renovation also has added moment a resident tells an tistics on deaths resulting ‘Why didn’t you shoot the The exhibit explains in de-
an interactive crime lab officer in a patrol car that from police use of force gun out of his hand or shoot tail how the mob built net-
and a speakeasy, com- someone has entered a nationwide. him in the ankle?’” Plum- works to make, move and
plete with on-site distilled house. Las Vegas police Capt. mer said. sell booze after the nation’s
moonshine. Visitors at that point take Robert Plummer, who pre- “If you go through the ex- breweries and distilleries
The use-of-force exhibit were closed.
walks visitors through vid- People can sip on a variety
eo and live role-playing of current and Prohibition-
scenarios, including an era cocktails as they learn
encounter in a staged al- about how people con-
ley with a suspicious per- sumed alcohol when it was
son played by an actor or illegal to do so. Museum
actress. Museumgoers are ticketholders can access
issued a police duty belt the speakeasy as part of
and a gun that’s as heavy their tour.
as one police officers carry. Those interested in visit-
Participants first receive a ing only the transformed
video introduction from a basement can gain access
Las Vegas police captain through a side entrance
and go through a brief after finding daily secret
target-shooting practice. codes on social media. Af-
All along, museum facilita- ter 5 p.m., the public may
tors teach visitors gun safe- also enter The Underground
ty practices, use-of-force for free directly through the
guidelines and police pro- side entrance.
cedures. “People want experienc-
Guests learn to maintain es,” said Jonathan Ullman,
distance from a suspect, museum president and
not to keep their finger on CEO.
the trigger and not to shoot In this April 12, 2018, photo, training officer Albert Dauto, right, instructs Tom Coull at the Use of “This allows us to take them
someone who does not Force Training Experience in the Mob Museum in Las Vegas. back in time.”q
Associated Press