Question: What’s the most “practical” fighting style for someone in law enforcement?
Background: 30 year-old former Marine, 6’2 215#s, gearing up for Sheriff’s Academy and career in law enforcement.
Current opinion: Due to the nature of the job, I anticipate that most problems that occur will be when trying to “cuff” an unwilling individual, so I would think that the “goal” would be to physically subdue the perp if need be until the proper metallic/plastic restraints can be applied. Current/former law enforcement professionals with any relevant data/experience in this area are more then welcome to sound off as I would greatly appreciate the input. Thanks in advance.
Aiki training will help with the manipulation when handcuffing.
BJJ training helps alot when the fight goes to the ground and thats where most departments train officers to take ‘combative’ persons into custody.
Kung Fu or Chinese MA will help when the threat is active and throwing puches.
The real decision will be determined by the department policy and opinion on use of force.
To be truly efficient as a LEO you must cross train. No one MA does it all.
Let´s see what I know them to have done/and what they do:
aikido (as previously mentioned.Good points include smaller risk of injury which might be even proven,and great controlling methods.Only art taught to japanese riot police and taught for law enforcement/security forces worldwide)
Jujutsu (has been used in law enforcement for a significant amount I think)
Hapkido (nice,well-rounded korean art used by bodyguards,military and law enforcement,in korea and out)
Hwa rang do (Another korean art,slightly similar,less known,harder to find but again,used for previously mentioned purposes)
And then there is one independent japanese MA which it based on law enforcement purposes alone,it includes techniques from various martial arts (can´t remember the name)
I believe FC is referring to Taihojutsu, a Japanese eclectic police martial art that combines elements of aikido, judo, and karate.
Hojojutsu is the Japanese art of binding and restraining prisoners with cord. This may be somewhat applicable if you ever have to detain somebody when you are without cuffs for one reason or another. For police use, some of the knots are WAY too dangerous (as in potentially lethal).
Stranger,
thanks for bringing it up,it might very well have been taihojutsu (I rely on your information so I won´t be checking it out)
I´ve heard of hojojutsu one time I think.
Quite a bizarre art,there were some pictures of their…uh techniques on www,probably very hard to track down as an art but considerable in a way I guess.
my teacher is a prison guard in a maximum security prison. The style we are taught is called kuosho, but it’s basically kung fu and boxing in the begining and then jujitsu and chin-na at the end. that is, the general point is to get to the chin na (joint lock). I would go to a generic self-defense class and ask around there, tell them what you want. My teacher does those like teaches women to defend themselvs and stuff. He claims he can use his handcuffs like nunchuks but I’ve yet to see him do it
Originally posted by Stranger I believe FC is referring to Taihojutsu, a Japanese eclectic police martial art that combines elements of aikido, judo, and karate.
The Japanese riot police used to have to train a year of intensive Yoshinkan aikido (as in ‘Angry White Pajamas’) and of kendo. Nowadays they can choose one or the other. Taihojutsu is not so much a defined system of martial arts, but does, as you pointed out contain basic elements of other martial arts. It seems pretty much like your average mixed bag of self-defence techniques from down your local community centre.
The riot police in the UK and Holland (the only ones I know for sure… and I don’t know so much about the ‘regulars’) are taught basic aiki techniques and counters, including those incorporating side-handle batons, telescopic batons and short sticks…
Considering your large size and experience as a Marine, I would imagine you really only have one or two things that are likely benifited readily by training. You already mentioned the most obvious (upright grappling use in apprehension). This ties in well with ground-grappling. The suggestions are not bad; I’d recommend a Jujitsu / Sambo art equally. Systema has some appeal here for slightly different reasons.
The second real problem spot would be an armed attacker at close range. Avoiding the knife long enough to shoot becomes the goal (and personal weapon retention). That’s going to depend more on instructor than art. I’ve seen some good people in some Silats, JKD, and Fairbran / Applegate stuff. I’m sure that the police dept / Sheriff’s dept will put a god deal of time into training that.
Also, ask around. Often as not there is a school manyof them attend. Oddly, this is not always a good school (theone here isn’t) but you will get plenty of opportunity to interact with fellow officers / deputies on their experiences.
I believe there are many systems that will do the trick and that no style would be better than the other…
Nowadays you also hear a lot about Krav Maga which came from the Israelian army.
It IS very effective, but if you are trained in ANY system AND know how to fight… you will get to the same point as them KM dudes…
I will put some selfdefense against armed attackers on my site soon, just to show that kung fu will work in the same way when it comes to serious selfdefense situations…
conclusion: find a style that “suits” you, that you like to train, that fits your age and body mechanics and train!!! and remember that you will have to learn to put it all into combat and selfdefense applications…
I was talking to a couple of Police officer friends of mine the other day. We were talking about martial arts and it was a really interesting discussion. Here is what I got out of it:
First of all, I believe that police officers should be recquired to have rigorous and ongoing martial arts training. Why? Because if you can learn to control and have the skill to control, a situation when it begins to get physical, and it does a lot with policemen, then the issue can be resolved before it gets escalated.
Bottom line is this stops officers and perps from being shot. I am not saying some people arent asking to be shot, just that if a situation gets that out of control, you have to wonder if things could have been handled better earlier on.
Here is another observation these guys made. We all work on a security team at a local venue where we often have to deal with physically violent or potentially violent people. most often these people are drunk and so you can imagine this does not help the situation, and lastly, these people are normally not in groups smaller then 3-4, which poses problems all its own. These police officer freinds of mine pointed out that of all of the members of our team, myself and another member who is a martial artist, do well at resolving situations peacefully, better then the rest, some of which obviously are police officers with their own special brand of training.
My conclusion was that possibly, discounting the chance that the two of us might just be that sort of personality, our martial training gives us confidence in our ability to control a situation from the get go.
Go to USJJF.org. They have a Taiho Jutsu program that is a law enforcement program. A couple states have used it as a post certified class. They offer it as part of a cirriculum into higher ranks.
agreed that they should all have regular training, but it can’t be the exact same as the rest of us. police would have to be more focused on restraining than on striking. styles that prefer striking, especially strikes to the eyes, knees, nuts, throat, etc. would be discouraged, as are some grappling styles lately. dealing with a enraged or intoxicated (particularly drugs) perpetrator and expecting them to react the same way as a sober (literally and figuratively) partner can be an enlightening experience. using pain compliance works great on sober people, but get someone who’s overly hyped up or out of it and that shoulder lock can easily turn into a shoulder break.
now, that shoulder break can be grouped with the strikes to the vitals in one big area – lawsuit fodder. blind a person in one eye and the city/state you work for will have civil suit papers on its desk in a week. give someone a life-changing injury to their shoulder and the same can be said.
now where does this put police? well, they are left in a nasty position – stuff that works great at stopping people, either by breaking a knee or knocking them out cold, leaves their office open for legal problems later. so what do they do?
i think this is the biggest reason behind the increase in using safer and more humane methods of restraint. while a taser is very painful, the pain goes away in a bit and the hair will grow back. this is preferable to having to overcome a criminal in order to arrest them, especially if the officer is alone and/or of less than desirable strength.
okay, i lost focus and am just rambling. someone else jump in.
I think BATON 101 is the best training they have…I saw a bunch of cops break up a hispanic vs. asian fight with BATONs…never saw so many live bodies litered on the floor.
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