Have you ever watched one of those videos where a security guard gets mauled by a pedestrian? Have you ever watched one of the videos where police officers use extreme excessive force to restrain a civilian under arrest? I’m pretty sure we all have, and honestly it’s a disgrace. It’s seriously pitiful that our L.E(law enforcement) is in many times not trained to control a civilian without excessive force or the assistance of multiple officers. While many departments do use Jiu-Jitsu in their training program this simply isn’t enough. Our Security and L.E should be in Jiu-Jitsu for life. One such testament to this can be found in the new documentary “Jiu-Jitsu VS the World” when an officer describes how helpful simple Jiu-Jitsu was in one crazy incident he had. Here are the top 3 reasons L.E should be training Jiu-Jitsu.
- Jiu-Jitsu is a practical application, which does not have to be used with excessive force. If every officer learned Jiu-Jitsu their departments would have far less force complaints and officers would be much safer. Not only this but Jiu-Jitsu deals with what is in many ways the worst situation for an officer these days which is being on the ground (especially on their back).
- Jiu-Jitsu keeps you healthy! We see so many officers these days whom are just completely out of shape. This is horrible; it’s no wonder they have to use so much force. This will not only help officers be more efficient in their job, but will also benefit their life and health. This will then save their department money on future medical bills as well.
- Jiu-Jitsu is a stress killer. I am sure everyone can attest to the stress relieving benefits of Jiu-Jitsu. After a hard training session I always feel at ease and worry free. This would be very beneficial to our L.E because they in many ways have the most stressful job of all.
While the benefits of Jiu-Jitsu are endless; these are what I felt were the top reasons L.E in particular would benefit from training? What do you think? What benefits do you think are important to our L.E?
I totally agree. The tough part for much LE is finding a place where they can train more self defense style BJJ instead of sport based. I love sport BJJ but it does have some techniques with push the self defense minded away
Leodefensesystems.com
As an LEO who trains in BJJ I was excited to read this article. Boy was I disappointed. Generally we can benefit from BJJ both in self defense and general health. But what I took away from this is the author views our officers as out of shape slobs who often use excessive force. This is simply not true. I suppose the media contributes to this but is it too much to ask the author to gather stats prior to publication? While I agree that we would benefit from training I feel the article falls well short of what it could have been.
I don’t View law enforcement negativity in fact I have many LE friends and am working on getting on with a department myself. Blogs are not about stats, I know that police are not out there beating citizens all the time (rarely in fact). However these days LE has a very negative reputation and this article was written not specifically for LE, it was written for the public. This articles only goal was to make the point that if all officers were better prepared then the rare, but publicized instances of police brutality would fade. Thanks For the input though I always appreciate feedback.
The author is an idiot, mocking the tactics & health of police is no way motivating. Just another uneducated person spewing their opinions.
Actually I am not an Idiot at all. I am someone who works is security and is in the Process of becoming a police officer. I actually had many officers write in stating how truthful the article was and how helpful Jiu Jitsu has been to them. I even had some training coordinators for police departments write in and am planning to write a squeal article.Sound like you were just a bit to sensitive to some of the realities.
I love Brazilian Jiujitsu and apply many techniques to subdue combative subject along with wrestling…but BJJ alone does cover a search techniques, from a Terry Pat Down to a Felony Ped Stop, if the System had techniques for searching and handcuffing, it would be a program many departments can apply…any leadership would need all those aspects covered before endorsement…anytime thus point it’s up to individuals to train in BJJ, Boxing, MMA etc
Sorry…doesn’t cover
Kris,
As a retired Police Officer and Academy Instructor, I believe that you wrote this article with good intentions but it is easy to offer opinions from a distance. Most officers start their careers in good or academy shape but 24 HR work schedules, life and family sometimes don’t afford the opportunity to stay in top shape or to train in a disciple that offers classes on a 9 to 5 persons schedule. I believe that BJJ, Karate, Akido and Krav Maga can be used by officers as additional training BUT they have to be tailored to Law Enforcement standards. A possible solution is a mixture of the best techniques of all the arts to form a law enforcement version. Best of luck with your career.
I absolutely think leo should be training in some form of grappling full time. Bjj,judo ,or wrestling. It allows you to control where the fight goes. It definitely needs to be adapted to account for gun retention. I don’t think the author means that it replaces search and cuffing procedures. As for the getting a bad rap. I absolutely don’t think that most officers use excessive force. Even the ones who get caught in the news. I think they use ineffective force which takes longer to gain control and looks way more violent. Just my take from rolling with several officers that train with ( not out of shape btw).
I love BJJ, I’ve trained for years, I’ve owned an MMA gym for 10 years and I am also a cop. I became an officer nearly 16 years ago and I have trained 100’s of officers and recruits in defensive tactics/use of force. I agree that officers should stay in shape and I also agree that officers should know how to fight because our lives could literally depend on it and many of the people we fight with have at least a basic knowledge of MMA because of the UFC. However, this article, especially written by someone “who wants to be an officer”, is overly simplistic and naive. First off, excessive use of force is when force is used that is inappropriate for the situation. For example, if during a fight an officer becomes exhausted and the suspect is high on PCP and is overpowering the officer, is it excessive to shoot him? I say no. I believe that’s appropriate under the circumstances. So if you mean lethal force is excessive, you’re wrong. Excessive force has nothing to do with an officers fighting skills and everything to do with his attitude, professionalism and control. The other area where you missed the mark is that BJJ is not magic. Even if every officer trained, there would be differences in skill levels, ability, joint problems, flexibility, age, etc. Also, it’s not a sport out there. People are high on drugs, mentally ill, have weapons, etc. and officers are wearing gun belts, vests and about 40lbs of gear which adds to the difficulty in movement. And I’ve never had to try handcuff someone is BJJ. Think of how difficult it can be sometimes to submit someone in BJJ and now you have to try and get both hands behind their back and put cuffs on? Not always easy. The bad guys aren’t gonna “tap out” in a lot of these cases and many departments have banned rear naked chokes as a control, which I think is a mistake, but nonetheless they have. I believe most still allow it in a life or death situation. Anyway, my point is BJJ is great but it won’t change the face of law enforcement and tactics. All officers should stay in shape and learn to fight…both ground and stand up. I wish you the best of luck in becoming a police officer and I’d love to have this conversation with you again after you have a couple of years on the road. Be safe!
I’m an okie, we all wrestled and these skills transfer well into custody and control. Also it’s aganst the law to resist arrest, if you get hurt doing so that is on you.