Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello, Mayor Allan Fung and Attorney General Peter Kilmartin raised their pistols as they approached an irate man who had just exited a vehicle.

Kilmartin shouted at the man to stop moving toward them and put his hands on the car. The three men de-escalated the situation, but thankfully it wasn’t real.

They were just testing out the new FireArms Training Simulator (FATS) at the Cranston Police Department Training Complex on Phenix Avenue, helped made possible through a legislative grant championed by Mattiello.

The system is capable of producing more than 1,000 simulations, ranging from traffic stops to chases to domestic disputes, on a screen in the darkened room. It isn’t just limited to firearms, either; officers can partake in flashlight and taser drills as well, and not every situation requires discharging a weapon.

The test started with two real police officers shooting at rotating targets and examining their efficiency. After that, they performed a few simulations for the crowd. One involved a disgruntled employee at his workplace, while another was a girlfriend attacking her boyfriend with a knife.

Once the officers had finished, Fung, Kilmartin and Mattiello were invited up to test their abilities. They were different, sometimes more intense episodes. One involved the aforementioned traffic stop, while the other involved a high-speed chase with two robbery-homicide suspects. Only the latter required shots to be fired.

Even the Herald got a chance to take part in the simulations, having to respond to three different calls. The final one was unknown even to Lt. Mark Freeborn, who was running the simulations. The Herald and two other media members had to respond to shots fired and an explosion at a VA building. The suspect was successfully gunned down.

Col. Michael Winquist said this technology is the safest way to prepare officers should any of these simulations become reality.

“Officers are faced with reality that they may have to use deadly force, which is a life-altering decision for any officer to have to make,” Col. Winquist said. “They readily and willingly accept this awesome responsibility the day they are sworn in as police officers.”

He said the simulator shows how quickly officers have to decide whether to use their firearm, and it rang true. Officers were faced with a first-person perspective, and were ready to stand down or fire when necessary.

Each simulation has multiple outcomes and Lt. Freeborn switched them up. For example, the domestic case ended first with the girlfriend reaching back and pulling out a drink. Neither officer shot.

In the second run-through, though, she did draw a weapon and she was killed.

“You will see later during the FATS demonstration just how difficult it is for a police officer to assess a situation in seconds and use deadly force,” Col. Winquist said before the simulations. “We only have one chance to get it right. We have to make the decision extremely quickly.”

Col. Winquist said FATS will make an appearance at the next Citizens Police Academy in an effort to show the community how nerve-racking those snap decisions can be.

“I am confident they will walk away with a new appreciation of how difficult it is to be a police officer,” Col. Winquist said.