Police Self Defence

 

Dear Martin,

 

I found the article on Police Self Defence very interesting and thought I would add to it. As you know I have been involved with Police Self-Defence for over thirty years and I have seen it grow into a very good system – know known by the term ‘Personal Safety’.

 

Any martial art can provide the basis for a police arrest system. However, certain arts are more adaptable than others: for example, the striking based arts are socially unsuitable for police use, whereas the old Japanese methods of grappling are appropriate. These apply leverage to the joints, permitting a controlled degree of force to be applied. Only the mildest forms of diversionary strikes are used.

 

Selecting the appropriate starting point is not easy. Many modern martial arts are thought to be effective means of self defence, but in fact have become to stylised, or altered for sporting purposes to be truly effective. Demonstrations involve unrealistic attacks. The knife is held obligingly out for the arm to be grabbed or the attacker swings a punch and then freezes as the counter attack is made. As anyone who has been involved in the use of force against another will tell you, a fight is for ever moving, your subject does not stand still, your subject will bite, punch, kick, head butt and try anything to get away from you.

So to determine whether a system is effective as self-defence it needs to be tested realistically and frequently. The system must be teachable within a limited time, to a wide spectrum of size, sex, fitness and age. 

 

The police have selected a multi-based system that includes techniques from aikido, judo, sombo, wrestling, boxing and kung fu. They have added to it the use of rigid cuff techniques, baton techniques (from Fairburn), and leg restraints using Velcro straps. Of course they also have the use of CS incapacitant spray.

 

The system is taught in modules as set out below:

 

  1. Use of Force Legislation and the Conflict Management Model
  2. Communication skills
  3. Medical Implications
  4. Personal Management skills
  5. Searching skills
  6. Handcuffing skills
  7. Unarmed skills
  8. Incapacitant skills
  9. Baton skills
  10. Leg Restraint skills
  11. Edged Weapon Skills
  12. Custody Officer skills
  13. Vehicle skills
  14. Specialist Officer skills (I.e.; weapon retention for firearms officers)
  15. First Aid skills

 

Officers are given time to for refresher training - normally two hours per month and they will also take part in realistic scenario’s using the ‘FIST Suit’) see www.fist-inc.com/tg/

 

However, I would like to point out that a great deal of time is spent on Conflict management and communication skills because if the officer uses the right approach then conflict can be reduced a great deal.

Police Self-Defence has undergone a long journey over the years and that journey has not finished. Every time an officer uses force they are to submit a ‘use of force form’, this form is recorded and every quarter stats are put together on a national basis.  The stats are looked at and if a technique is shown not to work then it is removed from the system. If a new piece of equipment is found to help then that will be added to the system (After trials have been carried out) I.e.: the Taser.

We constantly evaluate other systems and if they have something to offer it will be added to our system. (Only after the medical implications have been looked at and the trials have been successful)

So you can see a great deal of work goes in to getting the right system for the police, the unarmed side is only a small proportion of ‘Personal Safety’

 

Stephen Sweetlove MBE

Operational Training Unit

Bedfordshire Police

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