Recently, I seem to have found myself with a good deal of time on my hands (never usually a good thing for me) and a few things have happened that have gotten me thinking about just how and why we physically train in law enforcement. I want to be clear at the onset, however, that this is NOT about the recent occurrences that have transpired in Missouri. The issues, to me, are far deeper and more systemic than what happened there and I will not be touching on them.
If this is the first time for you reading one of my posts, I should probably begin with a little background bout myself. In my career, I’ve worked for a local department assigned to undercover assignments then on to criminal investigations in one of the most violent cities in the U.S. and after that, abandoned all semblance of dignity and joined the federal ranks (still can’t use the “credentials” word though; it’ll always be a shield and department I.D.). Suffice to say I’ve been around the block a few times and seen my share of dirt. One of the worst things that I’ve seen, however, is the prevailing attitude of most police department management regarding defensive tactics. Through two separate academies, I had to sit and participate in the accepted, approved curriculum which consisted only of modern MMA techniques. One day I asked an instructor why this particular style was used and the answer, while expected, was no less disappointing. The entire thing was designed so the officer could learn a few “techniques” that were “easy” and wouldn’t need continued practice to use on the street. It was not only disappointing but flabbergasting.
Now follow me on this; with every non-patronage law enforcement department that I’ve ever heard of, the applicant has to, at minimum, pass a written test, a panel or face to face interview, a background check, THEN attend an academy that includes more written tests, physical fitness, firearms, ethics, and the list goes on. After you pass all these criteria and receive a commission which empowers you under authority of law to enforce the peace up to and including the use of physical violence and deadly force, the department THEN decides that the officer isn’t capable of learning and maintaining a certain physical and, more importantly, mental standard to perform their job or are just too lazy to do so? I honestly don’t know if that speaks worse about the officer or the department they work for. To add insult to injury, we have all seen the posters in the locker rooms about how you should be training with mantras going back to the academy like “violence rules the day.” The whole point of the DT training curriculum seems to be centered around “out thug the thug” (a term I first heard a few years ago during an Ethical Protector training seminar that I think speaks directly to the issue and I can’t think of a better way to describe it) when faced with a physical confrontation and holding out until help arrives. Well, help or the blue wall may have been an option 20 years ago but how many of you on patrol that aren’t field training officers can remember the last time you had another officer in the car with you during an initial stop or encounter? Furthermore, the whole attitude you end up using colors your perspective during the stop for a few simple reasons. One, the training received is wholly inadequate because MMA is a SPORT and not an actual fighting or defense art. I know there are many people out there right now who's blood pressure just went 1000/1000 over that last statement and are swearing that they wish I was in the room right now so they could show me just how wrong I am and you are right now, in part, proving my point if just a few words can cause that kind of reaction. I’ve been in confrontations with so called MMA fighters and, frankly, they are usually easy to deal with. That’s not to say you let your guard down or can’t be dangerous, but when you are facing a person with a limited skill set due only to the fact that the “art” they use offers only a few techniques with no underlying principles, pretty much anything they do can be fairly easily countered if your principles (read tactics) are sound and grounded.
The other day, I was talking with another officer about training and he said something along the lines of “you should always be training at 110%!” Well my reaction to that statement is this; what does is matter if you are training at 110% or !% if your tactics are shit Tackelberry? If you are doing something wrong at 110%, it’s still wrong! I think part of this also goes straight into the MMA mindset which, frankly, appeals to the lowest level of our psyche and considering what our chosen profession is, isn’t a good thing and can and will eventually lead to a bad outcome in the long run. Throughout my career during basic, advanced, and recertification DT, I’ve seen officers needlessly injured during training solely because they allowed themselves to get ramped up and go too far in the application. All of it seems to stem around not only the mindset that the training creates, but, more fundamentally, the training only speaks to techniques; i.e. slot A to slot B to desired effect an so on. This is a flawed construct at it’s very core. How many of you when effecting an arrest on a noncompliant subject can honestly say that those things work? Every situation, no matter how similar, is going to go down differently and you pray every time that it doesn’t go sideways. Techniques are only one small part of the equation and completely ignores the broader perspective which is the underlying principle of what you are doing. If you have an understanding of the principle of whatever the technique you are trying to effect, then, most of the time, it doesn’t even look like you are doing any kind of martial art.
So how do you come to understand the principle of what you are doing? TRAIN! I don’t care what the style is; Bujinkan, Aikido, Krav, whatever it is, if you are only doing kata for kata sake without understanding what the principle behind it, then you are wasting your time trying to look cool and do yourself a disservice. Now I know many of you reading this do take the time to train outside of work to keep your skills up, but recently I’ve come to ask myself is that enough? What about the officers who got hired without any prior fight training? We will probably never change our respective departments attitudes on DT simply because it’s a cost equation metric to them; but as Ethical Protectors, shouldn’t we extend a hand to those fellow officers who have no prior grounding or training in tactics that can help/protect both themselves and those they are having to arrest? Personally, I think the answer is a resounding yes. If you do decide to take this on, understand that you will probably get blowback from your department (I’m speaking from personal experience on this) but make sure that it’s outside of work and you can explain everything within the use of force framework. If you can do that, you may just save a life and isn’t that one of the primary points of what we do?
