SpartanCops: What Is The Best Martial Art For Police Officers

[Brian R. VanCise]

Though I would put this article up from the SpartanCops Blog for discussion.

What is the Best Martial Art for Police Officers

 

[Kung Fu Wang]

Since kick/punch are not suitable, lock/throw should be the best choice.

 

[ballen0351]

verbal judo. Your not allowed to actually touch people anymore you get in trouble

 

[Buka]

Damned if I know. I probably should, but I don't.

 

[Xue Sheng]

A friend of mine used aikido.

another friend of mine is trained in the sanda they train the Chinese police and although incredibly effective, it would likely get police in the USA sued

 

[Instructor]

Not to blow our own whistle but Hapkido is very suitable for law enforcement, corrections, and sanitarium work.

 

[Langenschwert]

I'm not going to say all of HEMA is appropriate for LEOs. However, there's one aspect of German Kampfrigen that would be very useful, and that's the standard grappling clinch. In essence, the left hand grabs the opponent's bicep from the inside and the right hand grabs the opponent just above the elbow. This is a good setup to break the opponent's structure by pushing with the left and pulling with the right. It has the advantage over a standard Judo clinch in that it controls the opponent's arms, making is harder for the opponent to grab either his own or the LEO's weapon. It also offers superior visibility for the LEO as opposed to a normal modern wrestling or Muay Thai clinches which make it hard to see what's going on. If the perp draws a weapon you had better see it. We had a street cop in our club for a while and was a big fan of that clinch once he saw it.

The other advantage of Kampfringen is the recording of parallel techniques with both non-injurious and destructive versions of the same technique. For example, the ringen attributed to Ott is very dangerous to practice force on force, but similar techniques detailed by Fabian von Aurerswald are designed for sport, albeit a very rough one. Remember chivalric classes used combat sports to improve their performance in actual combat, something which many TMAs don't do any more. This gives police a continuum of force to use depending on the situation.

HEMA knife defence is pretty good, though modern combatives are better for most LEOs as knives are small these days. HEMA is perfect against a screwdriver or long kitchen knife, but the levering actions are hard to perform against a small folder. They are also very destructive when applied with full force.

But what are the chances an LEO is going to use it? Most police act in groups with one officer per limb of opponent, and work the "nose to toes" principle for a takedown. With three on one, skill in a codified system of grappling might not be the best use of resources.

 

[Buka]

Man, this is a complex subject. Regardless of any individual skills an officer has, they have to fit within the realm of accepted Defensive Tactics in that officer's department....or city...or state, whatever. And regardless of the Martial skill of the DT instructor, his teaching has to fit within those same parameters. The problem has always been time. How much time is devoted to the teaching of DT. Which is so small it's scary. Defensive Tactics is a neccessary liability to all departments. And many of the programs are built for the convience of the DT instructor as opposed to the actuall needs of the officers.

I was originally hired as a DT instructor, but I had to go through the same academy process as everyone else, including DT. Which was taught to me, I swear to God, by an auxiliary officer reading from a book as he taught. And he did not read well. I remember thinking, "My God, I've died and I'm in Martial Hell."

Here in Massachusetts, we used to have The Massachusetts Criminal Justice Training Council, (now defunct) which certified all DT instructors. We used to get certified every two years. Some of the folks I met from around the state were guys with no background in police work and no background in Martial anything. Several of them confided in me that they had never been in a fight and hadn't actually made an arrest on a resisting subject. (I know what some of you are thinking - that couldn't be - it was) Yet, they took a weeklong course and were now the shiny new DT instructor for their department.

That's why I say I have no idea which Art might be best. I think Ballen is spot on - Verbal Judo.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Buka I have had very similar experiences with DT instructors. I understand martial hell very, very well!

 

[Buka]

Brian, or anyone else - any idea when or where Defensive Tactics first came into being in Law Enforcement? I've never heard. Must be an interesting story.

 

[jks9199]

Define the question better. Otherwise, it's probably about the time formal training and academies started.

Sent from my SM-G920V using Tapatalk

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Hey Buka,

That is a great question and I know I do not have the answer but I believe jks9199 probably is pretty close with his idea. At least really formal training I imagine would have begun when formalized rules, procedures, etc. started. Though we all know training was happening before that.

Here is one quick link in reference to mandated training:
The History and Importance of Police Training - PoliceLink

 

[Buka]

I just left a voice mail, asking that question, with Boston Police Acadmy's registrar. (long time training partner) Boston is the third oldest municipal P.D in the country, maybe they can shed some light. But - when you retire, you're as good as dead. I'll probably get the old, "Go away and get a life, you damn old goat."

It will be said with love, of course.

 

[jks9199]

I know Hoover instituted some sort of DT training for FBI agents, as well... That was in 1928, per the FBI's website.

 

[Buka]

My buddy called me back an hour ago. This past Monday he transfered from the Academy to the Anti-Corruption Division. He's going to do some research and get back to me. But what he did mention was that back in the early 1900's, in Boston, when you were hired as a cop you had a week long training session and learned the Blue Book, which was a small pamphlet that covered "the law".
My, my, how times have changed.

 

[Xue Sheng]

My buddy called me back an hour ago. This past Monday he transfered from the Academy to the Anti-Corruption Division. He's going to do some research and get back to me. But what he did mention was that back in the early 1900's, in Boston, when you were hired as a cop you had a week long training session and learned the Blue Book, which was a small pamphlet that covered "the law".
My, my, how times have changed.

When I lives in Peabody Ma. in the early 1970s the requirement to be a police officer was pretty much....do you own a gun..... if you did and got threw the interview...you got fitted for uniforms and put in a patrol car....somewhere in there I imaging you were handed a copy of Mass State Law to Study...but that was about it