Simulation-based trainers have become commonplace tools for enabling individuals to acquire experience operating equipment, ranging from automobiles and aircraft to the control stations of nuclear power plants. In training law enforcement personnel, however, the requirements for simulation-based training are somewhat different because officers need experience making decisions in situations which involve other people as the primary features, not objects. Current simulations incorporate human entities and allow participants to interact with those entities. Researchers have been able to create entities with an increasingly broad repertoire of behavior and flexibility to adapt to behavior during the course of the simulation. However, the most important attribute missing from the simulated entities is the ability to think like humans. As a training system for law enforcement, simulation technology must enhance the objective of allowing personnel to gain experience with a wide range of social interactions characteristic of those encountered by officers. Current research at one laboratory provides a framework for creating highly realistic simulated humans, where the behavior of the entities is a direct product of the knowledge attributed to the entities. At the basic level, knowledge would consist of three components; at a slightly more sophisticated level, the knowledge would include emotional associations with cues and situations; and at an even higher level, simulated humans may be attributed experiential knowledge comparable to a life history. Two other applications of simulation training may also prove useful for law enforcement: the use of simulation training in a mission rehearsal capacity, and the use of simulation training as an analysis tool. Endnotes