England and Wales recorded 17,584 authorised firearms operations during the year ending March 2026. Officers discharged their weapons at people in just nine incidents.

Those numbers tell an important story.

The public naturally focuses on the rare occasions when shots are fired. Police trainers know that almost every firearms deployment is decided long before anyone touches the trigger.

Every operation demands dozens of decisions.

Is the person really a threat?

Can the situation be de-escalated?

Is there a safer position?

What is happening outside the officer’s field of view?

Where are colleagues positioned?

Could a member of the public walk into the line of fire?

Every one of those decisions shapes the outcome. The shot, if it comes at all, is simply the final consequence.

Traditional firearms simulators have become highly effective at measuring marksmanship. They accurately record reaction times, shot placement and qualification scores. Those capabilities remain essential.

They are no longer enough.

Modern policing demands evidence that officers can make good decisions under pressure, communicate effectively, apply proportionate force and justify every action afterwards. None of those skills can be reduced to a simple score showing whether a target was hit.

This is where the next generation of training needs to evolve.

Rather than treating the trigger pull as the only measurable event, training should capture the complete decision-making process. Tactical movement. Use of cover. Communication between officers. Escalation and de-escalation. Recognition of innocent bystanders. The sequence of decisions that led to the final outcome.

That is the philosophy behind Agincourt’s BattleVR platform and its Insight_Live analytics system. Every movement, interaction and tactical decision can be replayed and analysed, allowing instructors to understand not only what happened, but why it happened.

Importantly, this approach is not limited to new immersive training systems.

Thousands of police and military organisations already own capable live-fire, laser and video simulators. Replacing them is rarely practical or affordable. Training_AAR was designed to extend those existing investments, adding advanced after-action review and performance analytics to conventional simulators as well as BattleVR itself. Instead of recording only hits and misses, instructors gain a richer understanding of tactical behaviour, communication, movement and decision-making, while continuing to use equipment they already trust. This creates a practical path towards evidence-based training without replacing an entire simulation estate.

The Home Office figures reinforce why this matters.

Out of 17,584 firearms deployments, officers fired at people just nine times.

Success in the other 17,575 operations depended on judgement.

Training should measure that just as rigorously as it measures marksmanship.

Because the shot is only one moment.

The decisions leading to it are what save lives.

Help shape Insight_Live

We believe the people who deliver firearms training every day should help decide what training systems measure.

We are actively developing Insight_Live and are looking to work with a small number of forward-thinking police and military training units as development partners.

If your organisation wants to help define the next generation of evidence-based training analytics, influence future features and gain early access to new capabilities, we’d love to hear from you.

Get in touch to join the Insight_Live development programme.