SWEET HOME (AP) — Meet Milo, a computer program meant to train police officers to react to real-life situations by using lasers and projecting life-size characters onto screens.

By using Milo, an instructor can guide a police officer through hundreds of scenarios, such as trespassing or other crimes.

Sometimes the scenarios end with the officer using a weapon and other times the officer resolves the situation by talking. If the officer uses force, the computer will replay the scenario and pinpoint where the gunshot or Taser hit.

“It’s the best possible training for the worst case scenario,” said officer Justin McCubbins of the Sweet Home police department.

For two weeks, McCubbins and Officer Timothy Trahan have trained their colleagues in the Sweet Home Police Department and officers from Lebanon officers using Milo.

Officers traded in their real weapons for a training Glock pistol, Taser and pepper spray. They also got a flashlight to practice working in the dark.

In Sweet Home, instructors selected situations that reflect the kinds of calls officers in the area often respond to, such as domestic disturbances, bar fights, an emotionally distraught person, traffic stops and responses to unknown situations.

Each training segment began with an instructor providing officers with a brief explanation about the hypothetical scenario.

Then, the officers talk to life-size characters projected on a large screen, and must make quick decisions on whether to use a weapon.

Aside from live actors and objects, Sweet Home police officer Timothy Trahan said, “it’s the most realistic scenario-based training you can have.”

Trahan and McCubbins are certified to lead the training for other officers. The Milo program was on loan to the Sweet Home Police Department at no cost from the Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, the police academy in Salem.