AN ACT to appropriate funds to the North Carolina justice ACADEMY and the north carolina community colleges system office for the purchase of police training simulators to be available for use by all law enforcement agencies in north carolina.

The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:

SECTION 1.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Department of Justice, North Carolina Justice Academy, the sum of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2021‑2022 fiscal year to be used to purchase two virtual training simulators for the purposes outlined in Section 3 of this act. One of the virtual training simulators funded by this section shall be located at the North Carolina Justice Academy Salemburg Campus, and the other shall be located at the North Carolina Justice Academy Edneyville Campus.

SECTION 2.  There is appropriated from the General Fund to the Community Colleges System Office the sum of two million five hundred thousand dollars ($2,500,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2021‑2022 fiscal year to be used to purchase 10 virtual training simulators for the purposes outlined in Section 3 of this act. The virtual training simulators funded by this section shall be distributed evenly throughout the State, located on North Carolina community college campuses.

SECTION 3.  The virtual training simulators funded in Sections 1 and 2 of this act shall be used to help law enforcement officers evaluate the appropriate use of both lethal and nonlethal weapons typically available to law enforcement officers as well as the appropriate use of de‑escalation techniques in confrontational or potentially confrontational encounters. The virtual training simulators shall be capable of presenting training settings that allow for a variety of racial, cultural, and developmental differences in individuals with whom officers interact. The virtual training simulators shall be made available for basic and in‑service law enforcement training for law enforcement officers employed by North Carolina law enforcement agencies.

SECTION 4.  This act becomes effective July 1, 2021.