The stuff that I learned in the academy and the stuff that seems to be most prevalent across all departments and agencies (at least here in the L.A./SoCal area) is Krav Maga and MMA based (albeit MMA applied to practical street type situations). Systematically, I think its very good stuff. The problem is that by and large we don’t get to practice it enough. For example in my dept, I think we only have dept mandated training bi-annually. And the bi-annual training is basically a several day refresher course and work shop. Granted we do regularly apply stuff hands on out in the field, practicing and learning technique twice a year just isn’t enough to develop good proficiency. There are a good number of people who train on their own time and are very proficient, but the majority do not.
But regardless of that, I think that any experienced and competent street cop can be a very proficient ‘martial artist’ even if he’s not extremely technical in terms of unarmed fighting skills. Martial skills/attributes that any good cop possesses, such as good common sense, situational awareness, understanding the streets you’re walking on, being able to think quickly and act decisively under pressure, good communication skills, etc will save your skin far more often than your marksmanship or your Jiu Jitsu. I can think of a number of more experienced officers that I work with who I would tool on the mat or in the boxing ring, but are still far better warriors than I am. Because these guys have the knowledge and experience to be able to comfortably walk into and handle high threat situations that might overwhelm a 2.5 year boot like me.
Cops are not UFC fighters, and most cops would probably find it pretty impractical to spend a large amount of their time training those skills. Sure MMA proficiency would be helpful, but so would extra training in tactics, building searches, active shooter scenarios, etc etc. In the end there’s only so much time in your life to dedicate to training, and only those who have a personal interest in MA training are going to spend a load of time on it. I’ve been in plenty of physical scuffles on the job, but most of the critical life threatening ‘oh $hit!’ situations I’ve been in have had nothing to do with h2h fighting.
As an example: I was patrolling by myself, driving down the street one night and see a group of people standing around outside their car, which is apparently stalled or has a flat tire or something. As I get closer I suddenly realize that this group of $hitheads matches the exact description of an armed robbery that occurred less than half an hour ago, involving a group of five-six gang types armed with at least one long gun and one handgun. I’m just rolling by as I realize this, and several of these guys look right at me and make eye contact. By the look on their faces I know that these guys are worried about getting caught, and so I’m sure they are the robbery suspects. I’m alone, there’s at least five of them, and they have at least two guns (probably more). I’m thinking they may very well decide to light me up before I can put it out my location on the radio.
Its situations like that one that are the most dangerous. What do you do when you’re in a situation like that? I can tell you for **** sure there are no answers in Muay Thai, Bjj, Kookoo Ryu Karate-Do or whatever other style. So in the end you need to place the importance of those skills into perspective.
