Why LEOs NEED Jiu-Jitsu

When it’s your job to protect others, and stay safe in the process, how do you find a way to do this, all while not earning any extra attention from the media for using excessive force?

In a world so quick to judge, our law enforcement officers (LEOs) face this challenge daily.  With the culture changing and seemingly less and less people showing respect for what it is that our law enforcement officers do on a daily basis, it is an ever rising concern of how they can stay safe, while still doing their sworn duty to protect and serve, all while making sure every single thing they do is by the book as to not attract any unnecessary media attention.  

Can you imagine wearing a body camera all day at your job and every thing you do being under scrutiny by the entire country?  We must certainly be thankful and appreciate the fact that there are still people out there that want to do this. People that have a calling to protect and serve, regardless of the challenges.  But how can our law enforcement officers ensure their own safety in situations that come up? How do they ensure they get to go home to their families each night?

It all starts with control.  The ability to control a situation from start to finish allows our law enforcement officers the ability to handle, and mitigate any escalation of a situation quickly, easily, and without the need to act in fear.  It seems a lot of times when we situations gone wrong;the law enforcement officer would have arguably always been better off if they had some training under their belt.

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Training Jiu Jitsu does more than just provide a skill set.  Training Jiu Jitsu gets you comfortable with being in uncomfortable situations.  Putting yourself in bad positions in training, over and over and over again builds confidence, and muscle memory.  Both of which you will need in the field. Confidence alone changes the way you carry yourself, the way you walk, talk and conduct your daily activities.  It’s an energy that radiates from you. Confidence in itself can make you less vulnerable and therefore less likely to be in a bad situation to begin with.

When faced with an unruly perpetrator, officers have to quickly decide how to handle that situation.  Like anything in life, it’s easier to handle the situation properly if you have a plan. In this case, a “plan” is training, training that you have done many, many times and have become comfortable with.  This training will enable the law enforcement officers to calmly handle the situation quickly and efficiently without unnecessary force. Whereas without having a plan, things could get wild rather quickly.  It’s easy to lose control when someone is getting physically aggressive with you and you’re not prepared, or don’t have the skill set to deal with this problem.

When it comes to controlling another human body and manipulating their body into a position where you are able to control them with ease, there is no better martial art than Jiu Jitsu.  Jiu Jitsu will enable you to control the attacker with a strategy rather than just wildly charging at them, or exchanging punches back and forth. The harsh reality is no on wins in a fist fight exchange.  It’s very likely these days the a law enforcement officer will may find themselves on a news headline if they get involved in a first fight with an attacker. Jiu Jitsu will give our law enforcement officers the ability to control the attacker, even put them to sleep if necessary, without inflicting any lasting harm to them.  There are a number of joint locks that can be applied that can be very “motivating” for the attacker to stop and listen to the direction being given by the law enforcement officer.

But where do you start?  Start now, start today. Start by finding out what Jiu Jitsu academies are in your area and realistic for you to be able to train at least a few days each week.  There are a lot of factors when considering which academy to choose. You want to consider first, what types of classes do they offer? Is it geared towards self defense?  Do they have a striking program too? That may be an added benefit if you are interested in that. Maybe the academy has a gym available for you to workout as well, that could be a cost saver for you, rather than having two memberships.  Beyond what they offer becomes the question of when is offered? It’s great that they have all sorts of classes available to you, but if you can’t make it to any due to your work schedule or personal life obligations, then it is useless. Find an academy that has a schedule that works for you.  Finally, you want to go check out the academies you are considering to see what the atmosphere is like. Personally, I am looking for a family friendly, fun, community like environment. I want to feel like family when I show up to train, and I want to be the reason others come back to train at our academy, because I made them feel like family too.

 Remember, just buying the video instruction does not magically make you safer, you have to actually watch it, drill it, and then drill it some more. If you train and know any law enforcement officers that are not training Jiu Jitsu, it is your DUTY to invite them to come with you and check it out.  It could be what saves their life one day.

Lastly, whether you are a law enforcement office or a civilian, there is still plenty you can do to build upon the skill set you are developing in class.  For starters, check out “Police self defense tactics for the street” by Jay Wadsworth.  This 2 DVD series will give you some additional detail on techniques that can be highly effective in a street fight situation.

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