The future of law enforcement training could soon be coming to Warren County.

Warren County Sheriff Brett Hightower had his request to advertise for bids for a virtual reality training system approved March 14 by Warren Fiscal Court, and he expects to open those bids before the end of the month.

“We’ve had a firearms training simulator,” Hightower said after all five magistrates present at the meeting (Fourth District Magistrate Rex McWhorter was absent) voted for the request. “This is the next level of that.”

Hightower explained that the VR training system is similar to gaming systems in which players wearing headsets enter a virtual but highly realistic world.

“The person (in the virtual world) moves according to your movements,” the sheriff said. “It will be a training tool for us to make sure our folks are trained the way they should be. It’s a better, more realistic training opportunity.”

Like Hightower, Warren County Judge-Executive Doug Gorman is sold on the benefits of the VR trainer he has seen demonstrated.

“It’s a fantastic training piece,” Gorman said. “We’ll be glad to have it in Warren County.”

Making the VR system more palatable for Gorman and the magistrates is the cost-sharing worked out by Hightower.

Hightower expects the system to cost between $50,000 and $80,000, but he said a good portion of that cost will be covered by a $10,000 grant from the Kentucky Association of Counties and other contributions.

The sheriff said financial commitments from the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office, the County Attorney’s office, the Warren County Regional Jail and the Warren County Sheriff’s Foundation will help offset the cost of a system he envisions being used by his deputies and other law enforcement agencies.

“We’re going to open it up to some surrounding agencies,” he said. “We want to extend the opportunity to the Bowling Green Police Department, Western Kentucky University and other county sheriffs.”

And Hightower sees uses for the system beyond training for law enforcement.

“We’ll probably reach out to the NAACP, classes at WKU and other groups,” he said. “We can run them through scenarios so they understand the decisions that law enforcement has to make.”

The bid for a VR system wasn’t the only approval Hightower received at the March 14 meeting.

The magistrates gave the OK for the sheriff to extend through June 30, 2025, a contract with Lifeskills Inc. for services to transport emergency mental detention patients to Western State Hospital in Hopkinsville.

The contract with Lifeskills, first implemented in 2019, is for $10,000 per month. The original contract called for Lifeskills to contribute $110,000 annually to fund three part-time transporters.

Hightower says it has been a good partnership as his office and mental health professionals deal with a growing need for the transports.

Those doing the transports go through Crisis Intervention Team training.

“We have folks who do these transports who are specifically trained,” Hightower said. “The relationship with Lifeskills has been really good. We average one or two persons per day, depending on the situation.”

Among other items approved by the magistrates at the meeting were two vehicle purchases for the Bowling Green-Warren County Drug Task Force that are being paid for through funds from sales of vehicles forfeited in drug-related arrests.

Approved were purchases of a 2025 Honda Pilot costing $39,842 and a 2025 Ford Explorer costing $40,145.94.

The next meeting of Warren Fiscal Court is scheduled for March 28 at 9 a.m.