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DEADLY FORCE

Lt. Cliff Jobe raised his gun and pulled the trigger when his undercover drug unit came under fire from an outlaw motorcycle gang.

The shoot-out was more than 20 years ago, but Jobe, a state trooper, remembers it clearly. It was the first and only time he used his weapon on someone.

Jobe's decision to shoot back was made at a moment's notice, but with all the training and experience he gained in his career.

"It's never, never a gut decision," said Jobe, who now trains state police cadets. "There is a lot that goes into an officer's decision-making process ... because they're not going to get a chance to open up a book when they're out in the field. We're trained to react in a split second in order to survive."

The training Jobe and other officers go through helps save lives, even their own, which has been the case in most of the midstate's police shootings in recent years, officials said.

There have been 20 shootings involving police in Cumberland, Dauphin, Lebanon, Perry and northern York counties during the past five years. Nearly all of them have involved an armed suspect, including three under investigation by the Cumberland, Dauphin and York county district attorney's offices.

Authorities said a vehicle was used as a weapon against police in the midstate's most recent police shooting.

Robert B. Scheib, 24, of Shermans Dale, Perry County, is accused of repeatedly ramming a police cruiser with his van Saturday night before trying to drive away from the Carlisle Commons shopping center. Police said they were initially called because Scheib was driving "recklessly" with his girlfriend clinging to the hood.

When a Taser couldn't stop Scheib, authorities said, an officer shot him in the upper torso. Scheib remained in Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center on Monday.

Two other shootings involving police occurred in the last month.

York County District Attorney H. Stanley Rebert is investigating the actions taken Aug. 14 by a Newberry Twp. police officer who exchanged gunfire with a man who police said then shot himself. The man, Paul R. Lomman, 62, died at the scene.

Dauphin County District Attorney Edward M. Marsico Jr. hasn't ruled on the Aug. 22 shooting of a Harrisburg man who police said fired at them while they were investigating a domestic disturbance in the 1300 block of Howard Street in Allison Hill.

"Our police officers do a great job in exercising restraint in dangerous situations, yet, on occasion, when justified, they have resorted to deadly force," Marsico said. "I see many more situations where an officer could have used deadly force but did not, which is a good thing."

Training covers deadly force:

The best way to determine whether officers are making the right choices in the field is to compare these shootings with the city's homicide rate, said William A. Geller, an expert on the use of deadly force by police. He told The San Diego Union-Tribune that a community with more homicides is likely to be a more violent community, so police will be put in more dangerous situations.

Sometimes, shootings involving police have sparked outrage from the public.

One such case happened in 2006, when a Harrisburg police officer fatally shot Adeleno Oliver-Horton, 26, of Harrisburg, who was unarmed and reaching for a cell phone.

Jobe said the public should look at the often chaotic situation through the officer's eyes to judge whether a shooting is justified. That's the standard by which an officer's use of force should be judged, according to a 1989 Supreme Court decision.

The precedent-setting case is taught to law-enforcement students, along with ethics, communication skills and tactical maneuvers in the weeks of training before they get a badge and gun, Jobe and several other law- enforcement officials said.

Trooper cadets go through 900 hours of training over 26 weeks, throughout which they are taught about when and how to use deadly force. After they graduate, troopers are required to complete yearly training, which can add up to 100 hours a year, Jobe said.

Course includes simulations:

Officers training at the Shumaker Public Safety Center at Harrisburg Area Community College must complete 754 hours of training, and information about deadly force is woven into that, said Carroll Wagner, an education specialist at the training center.

Firearms instructor Michael Guido uses the center's simulator to train law-enforcement officers and students when and how to use their weapons.

Video is projected on a screen in one of the center's classrooms, depicting a situation they might encounter. The student reacts to the scenario as he or she would in real life while using a device that simulates a handgun, Guido said.

The gun simulator has a laser that records where shots fired by the officer or student hit. Then, on playback of the scenario, the instructor can discuss the process that the officer or student used to make the decision.

There is still learning to be done when officers graduate and are hired by police departments or agencies. Each department or agency can have its own policy that conforms to what the state crimes code allows. Police officials declined to comment on policies, citing the safety of their officers.

Jobe said he understands that these shootings can be "unnerving" for the average person, but they are necessary sometimes to prevent the life-changing moments, such as the one that claimed Jobe's partner in 1985.

A cocaine dealer fatally shot the trooper during a drug bust. Jobe said he remembers seeing his 26-year-old partner and friend lying on a snow-covered parking lot in Westmoreland County.

"To [police officers], the highest duty is to put their lives on the line and enforce the law without regard to class, color, creed or condition," Jobe said. "Because of that, they have a sense of duty to stand in harm's way when nobody else will do it. ... They know sooner or later what their job would require them to do."

CARRIE CASSIDY: 255-8244 or ccassidy@patriot-news.com

USING FORCE

Following are shootings involving officers in the last 5 years, according to midstate police: CUMBERLAND COUNTY

Saturday: A Carlisle officer shot Robert B. Scheib, 24, of Shermans Dale, who is accused of ramming a police cruiser with his van after driving "recklessly" around Carlisle Commons parking lot with his girlfriend on the hood. Scheib, shot once in the upper torso, was expected to survive, authorities said.

Jan. 6, 2006: A Cumberland County grand jury ruled that a state trooper was justified in firing two close-range pistols that wounded Juan Carlos Samayoa of Chambersburg in the chest and arm.

June 5, 2005: A state police corporal shot at an Upper Frankford Twp. man who had pointed a rifle at him and another trooper during a standoff. The shots missed the suspect.

May 17, 2004: A Carlisle police officer shot and wounded a borough man on North Pitt Street. Police said the 18-year-old had attacked his father and was advancing on two police officers with a 7-inch knife. DAUPHIN COUNTY

Aug. 22: Three Harrisburg officers shot and wounded Pierre Jenkins, 25, of Harrisburg. They said he fired at them first in the 1300 block of Howard Street.

Sept. 23, 2007: An off- duty Harrisburg officer fired his weapon as five other people fired about 30 shots in a parking lot on Chestnut Street, between Second and Third streets. Two people were injured, authorities said.

Dec. 8, 2006: A Halifax officer fired shots after a motorcyclist hit him with the bike and fled.

March 6, 2006: Steelton police fired several shots at a Harrisburg man who they said tried to run over them with a car.

Feb. 5, 2006: Harrisburg police shot and killed city resident Adeleno Jamar Oliver- Horton, 26, who was unarmed and reached for a cell phone.

Jan. 1, 2006: Two Harrisburg officers shot to death Melvin Soto of Harrisburg, who grabbed a third officer's weapon and fired at them.

Dec. 3, 2005: Three Harrisburg police officers fired at a man in the 1300 block of Derry Street. As many as 20 shots were fired. No one was injured.

Nov. 30, 2005: A Swatara Twp. police officer shot a man in Wal-Mart after he stabbed a clerk. The suspect later died of his wounds.

Dec. 15, 2004: A Steelton police sergeant shot a man in the chest and neck inside a house in Steelton. The suspect survived.

Sept. 10, 2004: A Harrisburg officer fired shots at tires of a car driven by a woman who tried to run him down near 13th Street and Interstate 83.

Nov. 15, 2003: Two Penbrook officers shot and wounded a man who broke into his wife's home and threatened to kill her. LEBANON COUNTY

Dec. 14, 2003: Seven police officers on a drug stakeout in Lebanon fired about 10 shots at a car after it hit an officer and police dog in an attempt to escape. No one was hit.

Aug. 9, 2003: A Lebanon police officer fired two or three shots at a man who had rammed his police cruiser twice with his truck. The bullets missed. PERRY COUNTY

Jan. 13, 2007: A state trooper shot James D. Dum, 52, of Harrisburg, in the arm, but he died when he fatally stabbed himself.

May 11, 2005: A Rye Twp. patrolman shot and wounded a Newport man who was threatening him and another police officer with a board with a nail protruding from it. NORTHERN YORK COUNTY

Aug. 14: Officials said Paul R. Lomman, 62, shot himself in the chest and was also shot in the neck by a Newberry Twp. office during a standoff at Lomman's home. Lomman died at the scene.