Pa. state police open academy doors to demonstrate use-of-force training - TribLIVE

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The quick decisions state police must make when confronting a potential threat are tough enough.

Now, subtract time and add stress.

It’s an equation that has no clear answer when a situation escalates and a trooper decides he or she must use some level of force to get someone to cooperate with an arrest.

“When you are forced to make a decision that quick … you’re going to think differently, you’re going to react differently,” said Cpl. Kevin Selverian, use-of-force specialist. “Your body’s going to go through physiological changes that it otherwise does not go through in less-than-stressful circumstances.”

State police opened their training academy doors in Hershey to several members of the media Thursday in an effort to explain what cadets learn about use of force. Media members learned about rules that govern use of force and participated in simulated training exercises that forced them to think like police officers when presented with potentially dangerous situations.

“Obviously, this is a topic that’s heavily scrutinized, especially in today’s climate,” said Sgt. Timothy Fetzer.

The training academy graduates about 200 cadets annually.

The agency’s use of force unit, supervised by Fetzer, started in 2016 in an effort to coordinate training and provide a means for closer examination when police are involved in such situations. Fetzer explained that police are able to use force, including a Taser or pepper spray, in certain instances during an arrest, such as if a suspect is threatening the lives of an officer or others and de-escalation isn’t a possibility.

Troopers are taught to consider several factors when determining if they believe a serious threat exists that may require lethal force. And they typically can only take seconds — or even less — to decide.

The rules are set by the U.S. Supreme Court and require officers to act “in an objectively reasonable manner,” Selverian said. Training focuses on considering typically minimal details when arriving at a scene and paying attention to those details.

During an investigation after lethal force is used, authorities can only consider what the officer knew at the time of deadly force without the benefit of hindsight. That often makes for lengthy, in-depth investigations that mean silence from police outside of the basic details initially for the public.

“We’re working in a real-world setting, there are realities to these events,” Fetzer said.

Training provides troopers with foundational knowledge of the law and how to apply force to certain situations. The learning is one thing, but the physiological response to stress is another. Selverian said fine motor skills disappear and brain function changes, among other things, when confronted with a stressor such as a person refusing to put down a gun.

“Police use of force is very complex,” Fetzer said. “I can’t script it out … because there’s the reality of life.”

State police have established a Heritage Affairs Section with troopers assigned to different sections of Pennsylvania to help with training outside agencies, connecting with communities and working with cadets on diversity and racial profiling awareness, said section commander Lt. William Slaton. They’ve been inundated during the last few months with training requests.

The unit is notified of every hate or bias-related crime investigated by state police and troopers work with the victims and community, he said. Troopers with the unit have been involved in the aftermath of the October 2018 Tree of Life synagogue shooting in Squirrel Hill and the June 2018 death of Antwon Rose after he was fatally shot by a police officer in East Pittsburgh.

Renatta Signorini is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Renatta at 724-837-5374, rsignorini@triblive.com or via Twitter .

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