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FORTY FORT – State police Lt. James E. Degnan told citizens his department perceives its firearms as tools rather than weapons.

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Sally Tredinnick helps state police Lt. James Degnan demonstrate riot gear to the Citizens’ Police Academy.

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Degnan, a patrol commander at the Dunmore barracks, spoke to about 20 residents at Thursday’s Pennsylvania State Police Citizens’ Police Academy at the state police training facility in Forty Fort.

The evening’s topics: Firearms and the police organization’s Special Emergency Response Team (SERT).

“These are nothing but tools,” said Degnan, referring to various guns laid out behind him on a desk. “These are some of the things that we use to get our job done.”

Degnan, who has been a firearms instructor for 21 years, said cadets learn from the outset that firearms are a tool of last resort.

Use of force protocol by law enforcement officers is a broad spectrum of steps when detaining a suspect, the lieutenant said.

The first step is presence, meaning a person in authority showing up.

“A lot of times that’s all you need for somebody to show up in that position,” Degnan told the citizens, who were there to learn about the police organization.

The next steps used by troopers, according to Degnan, could vary from the least to greatest use of force, depending on circumstances.

If a subject doesn’t comply, troopers verbalize commands to stabilize the situation. If that fails, troopers may have to physically restrain someone or use pepper spray, baton or a Taser gun if necessary.

“Our main purpose is to stop that act,” Degnan said.

Use of a firearm would be the last resort, but he stressed that troopers are trained to use the minimal amount of force possible, he said.

Pennsylvania is one of the forerunners when it comes to firearm testing.

“Before we adopt any weapon, it’s beaten, tortured, used, tested, ripped apart, put back together – a lot more than a manufacturer would like us to do,” Degnan said.

Troopers are equipped with Glock .45-caliber handguns – a tool of last resort like when someone’s life is in danger, Degnan said. The second firearm the organization relies on is a Remington 870 model pump shotgun, he said.

Degnan said the shotguns give law enforcement options. Police can use different projectiles such as a tear gas cartridge, which would come handy in a barricade or hostage-like situation.

And when it comes to crisis situations, the state police has its own SWAT team, known as the SERT unit.

About 1 percent of state police members are on the team, which handles anything from security details to crisis or hostage situations, he said.