Judo has been practiced by police in Japan since 1886 when
the Tokyo police department sponsored a competition between the new Kodokan
Judo school and older jujitsu schools. After the Judo students soundly defeated
the jujitsu schools, the police adopted Judo training methods and techniques.
The close association between Japanese police and Judo has continued from 1886
to this very day. Judo has since been used in training for police and military
forces around the world.
The duties of a law enforcement officer focus on protecting
people and property. They patrol the areas they are assigned, which sometimes
include entire jurisdictions, respond to calls, enforce laws, and make arrests. Law enforcement officers are
subjected on a daily basis to two primary complaints, one is that the cops are
brutal and rude and the other is that they don’t do enough to stop crime. On one had they are deemed as being too tough
on the other they aren’t doing enough. Balancing more “compassionate” policing
with more effective law enforcement is one of the great challenges facing law enforcement
agencies today.
The highest probability of assaults against police officers
is during the point of the officer’s first contact with a suspect, often during
the process of trying to bring an individual into custody. The officer
encounters suspects who willfully "resist" arrest, they want to fight,
hurt or kill the officer. In some cases it's an ego thing, they ARE looking to
be restrained or they don't want to look like a punk and go quietly. In these
instances the suspect knows that the officer is not trying to kill him or her,
so they resist.
The main goal of policing, whether it is lethal or
non-lethal force, is compliance from the subject. However, law enforcement
personnel find themselves under constant scrutiny regarding their use-of-force, from bystanders screaming police brutality to the I-Phone Paparazzi
all the way through to the department,
criminal, and civilian oversight type committees. There are a lot of disadvantages when it comes
to officers trying to make arrests. It is a complicated situation when the media chooses highlight the worst arrests and never reports on the good examples of officers taking someone into custody.
The primary purpose of non-lethal force with law enforcement
is to get the suspect to comply. What is the most realistic way of getting
someone to do something that they don't want to without seriously damaging
them? The goal is to remove mobility from the subject and exert maximum control
for handcuffing. The principle is that in order to handcuff a subject, an officer needs
to control them first.
Judo has historically been an integral part of police
training that focuses on control and compliance of a subject. The control and arrest techniques (renkoho waza In Japanese) found in Judo, were
developed to assist in controlling suspects enabling the law enforcement officer to force
compliance and to move a subject without having to use excessive or deadly
force. These techniques also provide the officer(s) a low-key, effective means
of taking a subject into custody and instill the skills and confidence that
will assist in the effective and ethical use of force when it is required and most
importantly will help keep the officer safe during this process.
Judo control and arrest tactics are best suited to street-level policing
and self defense. Though an arrest may start on the feet statics show us that approximately
80% of all arrests end on the ground. Judo can quickly transition between standing
and groundwork to tactically re-position or to go hands on when the opportunity
presents itself to gain control/compliance of a subject.
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