Police Certification
Unless your job requires it or you need it for a pay raise don’t waste your time. Here is something to think about? These certifications are very restrictive as to how you can subdue or defend yourself against a combatant, and differs from place to place sometimes even in the same state. Many jurisdictions don’t even require them because they expect you to do what’s necessary to defend yourself. For example the Illinois state police are forbidden from choking or attacking the neck, because of chokes that were held to long in the past resulting injury or death. If they had been well trained to begin with, (and all law enforcement should be) these problems wouldn’t be an issue. But the above just proves my point.
The problem is that most of these programs are put together by individuals that come out of sport martial arts schools and not a combat martial arts schools or have no combat background at all. They have never really had to fight for their life, I’m sure there are exceptions, but very few. Then the program goes to the legal department to be watered down even more. Don’t trust your life to this bureaucratic b.s.. America’s new sensitivity and political correctness has taken people away from the reality of the world. Unfortunately you can’t always be nice to people, there are some people that will kill you! Sadly most of them are young. They are raised without discipline or respect for anyone or anything. And the public schools successfully did away with any meaningful discipline for the most part through brain dead policies.
The answer is quite simple? Take a true combat martial art. So you are better prepared for violent events be it knife, gun, or environmental. Believe me I’ve had the adrenalin dump when someone has a gun or knife in your face. I’ve been in the knife and gun situations and you do what’s necessary when someone means to hurt or kill you, you use what counts, not what keeps your agencies department from being sued, but what saves your life! I’ve taught pilots, flight attendants military personnel on all levels, law enforcement from many different agencies city and state. They were all dismayed with their programs, especially when it came to knife or gun disarms. That’s why they were here!
We have a saying at AFTA martial arts “I’d rather be judged by twelve than carried by six”.
We`ll use reasonable force only. But I don’t want the people I train to end up with their name on a little service placard because they played by the rules and the criminals didn’t! I am not against these certifications but they need much more flexibility and instructors that understand close combat in its true form.