As part of the national discussion around the Black Lives Matter movement, one concern is how police are taught to use force and how that is carried out in everyday interactions with the public.

In Butler County, police training focuses on what is called the use of force continuum, according to Dennis Rickard, a criminology professor at Butler County Community College. Rickard was the county sheriff from 1982 to 2010.

The continuum identifies different levels of force and outlines examples of when that force is reasonable to use.

The first level is simply officer presence. An officer can use verbal commands, starting with a nonthreatening but professional tone, Rickard said. That tone and severity of commands can increase with an individual's passive resistance.

Next, an officer can use “empty hand control,” Rickard said. This has two levels: soft techniques and hard techniques.

A soft technique is used to restrain an individual while hard techniques can include kicks or punches. Empty hand control typically starts when an individual actively resists an officer, according to Rickard.

The next level is what is termed “less lethal” tactics, according to David Champion, a criminology professor at Slippery Rock University, who worked with the military police for five years. Less lethal tactics include the use of a Taser, pepper spray or baton when an individual poses a threat to an officer.

Finally, there is lethal force, only to be used to protect yourself or others from death or serious bodily injury, according to Cpl. Adam Reed with the state police press office.

The level of force is based on how compliant or threatening an individual is, Rickard said. If a person complies with verbal commands, the officer cannot escalate his force to soft contact.

“You can only use as much force as the situation warrants,” he said.

Champion said that the rule for determining when force is permissible is called the standard of objective reasonableness, a concept previously used by the U.S. Supreme Court.

“What would a reasonable police officer on the scene have done ...? That was the standard that is still used in these cases,” he said.

That decision of reasonableness must be made using “only what is known at the time by the police officer,” Champion said.

For instance, in a quick encounter, a toy gun could be mistaken for a real one, Champion said.

This is why lethal force must be considered the last resort, Reed said.

“It's our goal as law enforcement officers to use the least amount of force necessary to accomplish our job,” he said. “Deadly force is the last thing we want to use.”

The decision to use force is one that cannot be made lightly, according to Richard Gigliotti, a criminology professor at Slippery Rock University. He previously was warden of the Butler County prison for 24 years.

“If you have to make that decision, you never want to be wrong,” he said. “You can't get that bullet back once it's fired.”

According to both Reed and Gigliotti, that split-second decision relies on a solid training background for each officer.

“You have to make very quick decisions based on the circumstances at hand,” Reed said. “That's where your training is very important. That's going to be key to responding in the situation in the proper manner.”

Hiring and training

For the state police, there is an in-depth hiring process, Reed said. However, future troopers do not need any training before applying, he said.

To be eligible, a person must have 60 college credits, four years of active duty time in the military or four years of experience as a law enforcement officer. Those 60 college credits can be in any courses or subjects, Reed said.

The person must pass a written test, an interview and a physical fitness test. From there, an individual must submit to a “thorough background check and investigation, a variety of medical testing and psychological testing,” Reed said.

“To be an effective police officer, you have to have a clear psychological background,” he said.

If a person passes that, he will go to the six-month police academy in Hershey.

“You begin with no assumed knowledge of police operations or law because many people coming in simply don't have that,” Reed said.

Training includes law, policies and procedures; physical fitness tests like running, swimming and boxing; de-escalation tactics; “extensive” firearms training and emergency situation driving.

By learning de-escalation strategies, an officer can prevent the need to use force, Reed said.

In the use of force, the state police are well-trained.

“We spend many, many hours on use of force procedure and the law and how it relates to the use of force,” he said.After the initial training, state police must be retrained in these topics annually. Each year, a state police officer must be recertified as proficient with firearms and goes through another course on use of force.“We get an annual refresher on the use of force,” Reed said. “We do get very thoroughly trained on this ... to make sure our troopers are aware and are familiar with the tools we have as well for when we have to use force.”For municipal departments, training is mandated by the Municipal Police Officers' Education & Training Commission, overseen by the state police.The commission outlines the basic training syllabus, last revised in 2008. That training includes courses on law and procedures, use of force guidelines, human relations and crisis management, totaling more than 700 hours of training, according to the state police website, www.psp.pa.gov.As part of human relations, police learn about cultural diversity and ethnic intimidation and bias.For annual training this year, police are required to do a 6-hour course on use of force guidelines, the website said.Selection of officersWhile police officers are subject to an extensive hiring process, the makeup of a police force and how officers are chosen must be part of the national conversation, according to Champion and Rickard.Although it's a small percentage, there are police officers who are not suitable for the job for reasons of attitudes and prejudices, Rickard said.This can be a slippery slope given the level of power society gives the police, Rickard said.“Do we, society, have the right to expect a higher level of objectivity and morality from our police officers than we ourselves are willing to follow? That's a heavy one,” Rickard said.“But the answer is yes ... The police are the only people who we have authorized to use force against us to keep society safe, and that includes deadly force. Society has sanctioned police with that responsibility. It's an ominous responsibility; it should not be abused.”Champion said he has seen research studying how an officer's background affects the quality of his work and how often he uses force.“There is some evidence that police with some college education or four-year degrees tend to use force not as often,” he said. “That's been found in a couple studies, and noncollege police officers with a lot of experience tend to not have as much use of force.”Champion said studies also have shown that female officers generally use force less often and have fewer complaints filed against them.In Butler County, people of color make up only about 5 percent of the population, according to the 2015 census estimates, but having more people of color on the force may increase community trust, Champion said.“There is a continuing initiative to recruit people of color and other traditionally underrepresented (groups) into police agencies so it looks more like the communities that they're policing,” he said.But ultimately, the stringent hiring process makes a huge difference in keeping people prone to abusing power out of law enforcement.“What we need to do is make sure that those guys don't get in,” Champion said, citing something he heard at a law enforcement conference recently. “Because once they're in, it's much harder to make an improvement.”This is the first of a two-part report. The second part on Monday will focus on community reaction.