Why Police/Law Enforcement Should Learn Grappling
Introduction
Should law enforcement be required to train in a grappling martial art like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or wrestling?
Answer: Yes (continue reading for the reasons why)
Increasingly Dangerous Society
As crime continues to rise, countries around the world are becoming increasingly dangerous. With the current combination of today’s judicial system, policy makers, and crime laws, it seems like there is absolutely no regard for the safety of citizens and law enforcement.
Criminals commit crimes, then are let off the hook with slap-on-the-wrist punishments (relative to their actions). This is a vicious cycle which ultimately causes more harm to “everyday” people who just want to live their lives, but now have to deal with the threats + aftermath of these terrible things (assaults, robberies, harassment, and in some cases even worse).
Policing: an increasingly difficult job
With the increase in threats and dangerous individuals, the job of law enforcement officers and police departments all over the world has become more difficult. Officers make arrests, but some are not without struggle. Chases on foot and in vehicles. Suspects who actively and passively resist detainment. Some choose to fight back and try to harm police. Even after arrests are made, officers get ridiculed for doing their jobs. Some officers even get posted on the internet, where they are identified and have their personal information leaked – all for taking a suspect off of the streets?
On top of this, many departments have faced budget cuts so they don’t have the same resources as they did in the past, to help with their jobs. Policy makers and judges have passed legislation that allows these criminals back out onto the streets after they have been detained, where they will continue their rampages of crime and wreak more havoc on society. So all of the work it took (see previous paragraph) to take these threatening, dangerous, and disruptive individuals off the streets…? It may have to be done again, since they’re out of detainment
But that can’t be true? Why would the policy makers and judges do this? Doesn’t the government care about the safety of citizens? (We all know the answer to that one…)
Here are three examples of criminals with prior arrests being let out:
(August 8, 2022) “Suspect who assaulted ‘hero’ NYC subway worker previously arrested 41 times”
Within these 41 arrests, includes the time where he punches a 55 year old Asian woman in the face and then plays the victim, like the coward rat he is.
(March 26, 2024) Criminal with 21 prior arrests is back on the street
“Guy Rivera, 34, has a long history of drugs and violence charges, records show.” Not surprisingly, he is back on the street.
Under a photo of the criminal is the following caption: “Darryl Roberts, 57, was arrested for the shooting of Wright last Friday. He faced over 66 criminal charges over his life but has never served a prison sentence”
Officers face social backlash for helping to keep society safe
In addition, restrictive rules and fear of social backlash (and the following consequences) prevent officers from using the resources they do have to their full extent, when the situation calls for it.
It’s been in the news time and time again. A young teen participating in unlawful activities gets caught by police. Instead of complying, things quickly escalate and turn violent. An argument turns into a struggle, a struggle turns into a fight, a weapon is pulled by the suspect. In return, police officers then draw their weapons and use them, ultimately killing the suspect.
The media frames it as a brutal inhumane execution by police, even though they were justified in their use of their weapons, as their life was at risk when the suspect drew a weapon first with intent to use it. But the media says he didn’t intend to use it… then why did he take it out? Mainstream media jump on this narrative, despite officer body cam footage showing that use of force was justified. Now trending, social media goes insane. One side believes that the police were justified after reviewing multiple narratives of the incidents, while the other side believes that the police were in the wrong.
The suspect was just a good boy, who didn’t do noth… anything. He wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, and astronaut when he grew up (even though his criminal record at a young age may convince people otherwise). Now, it is ENTIRELY the fault of the police officers. Not the suspect for his illegal actions that initially put him in the situation or the actions he took when he was in a tense situation (resisting, fighting back, drawing a weapon with intent to use). Now ALL police are branded as bloodthirsty, cold blooded killers. Backlash calls for them to resign, their personal information somehow gets released online, now their lives/loved ones/livelihoods are at risk. All for doing their job and trying to keep society a safe place for the law abiding citizens to live in. What a backwards world we live in.
A few bad apples can ruin the bunch
This is not to say all cops are without flaw. Nobody is without flaw, that is what makes us human. With that being said, there are always bad apples that are outliers in the bunch. A majority of cops are good people, just working hard because they want to help keep people and their communities safe. There are those who abuse their power and use their status/authority as an officer to prey on the weak, but this is not the case most of the time. Again, yes this happens, but not as often as the media wants us to believe. The mainstream media (“news”) outlets pick examples that show some of the worst incidents, blast them all over social media, then apply this generalization to all cops, spreading a very unfair and inaccurate (whoa the news? no way…) representation of cops as a whole.
With a combination of these factors, the odds are stacked against LEOs and their job is made so much more difficult than need be. Dealing with criminals (sometimes the same criminals let back out after they’ve been dealt with multiple times) while trying to help the community is difficult enough.
Now more than ever, police officers need to start/maintain consistent and focused training to be properly prepared for this situation.
So what can police departments do to help their officers out?
Encourage officers to train. Specifically, in a grappling discipline like Jiu Jitsu, Judo, or wrestling. If budgets allow, maybe some money could be allocated toward sending officers to these grappling academies to learn techniques and fundamentals of nonviolently controlling another human being. Non-violent in the sense that no blunt force impact strikes are being thrown (... but, with the dominant positioning that officers will learn to achieve, this last-resort option will be available if situations truly call for it).
Why Jiu Jitsu? Why Judo? Why Wrestling? What is grappling?
Grappling is when people fight to gain (or maintain) dominance over one another through close range battles for position. Unlike striking arts, where blunt force impact is the primary focus, these battles are fought with throws, trips, sweeps, takedowns, and submissions (chokes, joint locks, etc). All techniques focus on different grips, positional battles, and weight distribution maintenance/off-balancing methods. Consistent, focused training in a grappling art will help practitioners develop correct technique and properly get their bodies conditioned to these movements (because it is waaay more tiring than it looks, when it comes to cardio AND muscular endurance).
For police officers, grappling is one of the best skills they can possess. They will learn the principles of weight distribution through experience. They will constantly have to readjust their position, otherwise their training partners will gain a positional advantage. They will learn a wide variety of techniques that will help them defensively keep their position, while applying these same concepts offensively will allow them to off-balance their opponent to achieve superior positioning.
Untrained Officers
There are many videos of untrained law enforcement officers failing to control suspects who resist arrest. They clearly have zero grappling training, as most don’t know how to bring a suspect to the ground. Even when some officers eventually get them to the ground, they have a very difficult time subduing them to make the actual arrest.
Untrained officers make the situation worse for everyone. Yes, it would be ideal for the suspect to just comply and not resist – but unfortunately, that’s not usually how it goes (as some criminals don’t exactly have any plans to follow the law, after they’ve already broken it). Because of this, officers must adapt to the situations they are in and the ones that they (should expect to) face on a consistent basis. Not having the proper training to deal with physical altercations (ex. failure to detain a suspect) can lead to one or more of the following:
(1) Injury to an officer or other officers
(2) Injury to the suspect
(3) Injury to outside parties (bystanders)
(4) Further damage to nearby property
(5) Damage to department reputation
(6) Damage to personal reputation
(7) Lack of faith in officer capabilities (from self, department, community point of view)
So in a way, it is actually irresponsible for a law enforcement professional to be untrained, regarding matters of physical altercations, due to the safety impacts that this lack in preparation may cause. Lack of training, knowledge, and experience in handling these matters increase the likelihood of the situation becoming worse.
Officers who train
On the other hand, there are many videos that show the exact opposite, where cops who clearly have some form of grappling training take control of a physical situation and arrest a resisting suspect with relative ease. They are able to grab the person of interest, take them to the ground, exert pressure where needed, and physically control them for as long as they need – all without hurting themselves and the suspect – which can result in:
(1) Decreased risk of injury to the officer and other officers
(2) Decreased risk of injury to the suspect
(3) Decreased risk of injury to outside parties (bystanders)
(4) Decreased risk of damage to nearby property
(5) Maintaining and/or improving department AND personal reputations
(6) Increasing faith/trust in officer capabilities
(7) Safer community / improved community relations
A more capable officer
The difference between police officers who train (in a discipline like Brazilian Jiu Jitsu or wrestling) and officers who do not is night and day.
If your family called the police to help against an aggressive and dangerous individual, who would you want to answer the call?
Option 1: An officer who trains in grappling and will know exactly what to do and how to do it, because they do it on a consistent basis against other people who train?
Option 2: An officer who has no grappling training and does not know how to + physically cannot restrain this threatening individual?
Answer (if you care about your family’s safety, which we know everyone reading this all does): Option 1
Training applies to real-world scenarios
While grappling disciplines are often competitive combat sports, the techniques work just the same in training/competition as they would in real life.
Trained officers get experience grappling against other people who train. These training rounds will provide every officer with invaluable experience in the gym, experience that will help when on duty as an officer. Everybody in Jiu Jitsu gyms work consistently on defending themselves from and attacking with certain techniques, which means that everyone is constantly improving.
For a law enforcement officer, this is exactly what you want/need in order to be prepared for street altercations. Training with other people who know how to defend/counter your moves, how to attack you back, and the principles of weight distribution/balance means that you’re always trying to solve a difficult puzzle in this game of human chess. Each time, you learn something new and get better.
Now apply this to your duty as an officer when arresting a suspect who is extremely aggressive, who likely doesn’t know ANYTHING about grappling. The rounds in the gym against seasoned grapplers will help you make quick work when it comes to detaining this suspect. In the battle of experience vs no experience (regardless of size), the person with more experience wins 99% of the time.
It’s also the same idea as why baseball players swing with a donut (a bat weight) in the on deck circle. When they swing a weighted bat, they get used to the heavier weight. When they remove the weight and step in the batter’s box, not only will their bat feel so much lighter, but their bat speed when swinging will also be quicker.
It’s like learning how to spell all of the words in a dictionary, to compete at a 2nd grade spelling bee.
You’re training against much more difficult challenges in training, than the ones you may face in the streets (in terms of grappling abilities). When you train for a much harder obstacle than your actual opponent, dealing with your actual opponent will seem comparatively easy.
Physical Fitness
While some police officers may not be doing Jiu Jitsu or judo, there are a good amount that still do physical activity outside of work. Like many people, they lift weights and do cardio in a conventional strength gym. It’s good that they are taking accountability for the shape they are in and trying to improve their fitness! A much needed refresher and better look than the officers who don’t do anything (neither combat sports nor any physical fitness) to add value/help to their profession in law enforcement
However, strength training on its own may not be enough in some situations.
Why lifting weights may not always get the job done
This is not meant as an insult, but rather as a harsh wake up call. Some form of grappling training is ABSOLUTELY necessary for law enforcement officers, if they want to physically restrain and control resisting suspects with little to no injury to all involved parties.
While being strong and having big muscles is good, police officers should be participating in some form of grappling training for self-defense purposes. Yes, strength training is great and you will be incredibly strong, but do you know how to properly use this strength outside of lifting up heavy things and putting them down? Is your functional fitness good?
What good will all of this muscle be, if you do not know techniques that allow you to use it properly? What good will it be if it is used against you?
Again weight lifting is good, but may not be enough on its own. True, being in good physical shape can only make your life easier. You can run fast to chase suspects and have the endurance to keep up with them. You have the strength and conditioning needed to make arrests. Going to the gym is a great supplement to grappling training. Key word: supplement, as in an addition to. You can do both!
Grappling over weight lifting for law enforcement?
Grappling allows practitioners to use the smaller muscles that are often overlooked in conventional strength training. In many movements and techniques, you use your entire body, so in addition to strength, muscular endurance is built and maintained.
For officers, this will help them to non-violently control fully-grown men who actively resist and fight back. But strength training can do the same thing, right? Not exactly. Ask anyone who trains what their transition to combat sports was like. They will most likely say it was more fatiguing than they expected. If you don’t have any grappling experience, try holding someone down for 2 minutes. It’s probably more tiring than you think because your movements are not as efficient as they could be.
Learn how to grapple. Learn the techniques to refine your movements and make them as efficient as possible, so you don’t have to use a lot of your strength (you’ll use positioning and leverage instead). Build muscle endurance. Increase your lactate threshold (the higher it is, the longer you can hold a high intensity of activity because your body is more efficient at clearing lactic acid).
Purpose of grappling (Helio Gracie)
Grappling, and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in particular, gives everyone very simple and effective techniques that can be used in self defense. Helio Gracie once said the following:
“Always assume that your opponent is going to be bigger, stronger and faster than you; so that you learn to rely on technique, timing and leverage rather than brute strength.””
“Jiu Jitsu is for the protection of the individual, the older man, the weak, the child, the lady, the young woman – anyone who lacks the physical attributes to defend themselves.”
Strength vs Technique
These quotes really capture the beauty of Jiu Jitsu. Anyone can do it and use what they have to their advantage. Smaller and don’t have as much strength as someone else? You can use their strength and power against them through misdirection and leverage principles. Off balance their distribution of weight and capitalize on the openings you create.
“Oh that wouldn’t work.” Watch the videos below, that show how technique can prevail against pure strength, and see how it can work!
Bradley Martyn (bodybuilder) vs smaller Jiu Jitsu practitioners:
Yes, when you get to a certain level of training or a certain size/strength differential, technique alone may not be enough. However, with adequate knowledge and experience, there are times that it can be. In situations between trained vs untrained, the one who has (more) training will win 99% of the time.
BJJ for LEOs - Real World Application (examples)
The videos below show great examples of cops using their grappling training to successfully detain suspects, without injury to themselves or the suspect
Tom deBlass video breakdown: Police Officer using Jiu Jitsu to apprehend an aggressive man
Tom deBlass video: Cop controlling suspect from standing to ground
Rener Gracie video: civilian helps cop arrest man
Rener Gracie breakdown: Cop uses BJJ to subdue suspect
Widespread praise for Jiu Jitsu
On youtube, you can find many people praising Jiu Jitsu and the benefits that grappling has. Both in terms of martial arts abilities and lessons that transfer from the gym to real-life. Jiu Jistu is one of the best when it comes to self-defense. By neutralizing a threatening/aggressive individual, you are defending yourself and others from them – one of the most relevant points on why all LEOs should train. Check out the links at the end for more on the benefits of grappling, which all directly relate to the matter of LEOs and grappling training:
Other resources:
Tom deBlass instagram (Jiu Jitsu Champion, Pro MMA Champion, grappling for LEO advocate)
Police Posts Training instagram (informative content for LEOs, based on real footage and encounters)
Police Posts instagram (training posts, reviews, breakdowns on LEO encounters)
Effective Fitness Combatives instagram (great posts on LEO training, information)
Effective Fitness Training (great posts on LEO fitness, combatives)
GBRS Group instagram (SMU/Tier 1 military operators who give tactical advice)
Dom Raso instagram (DEVGRU Operator with informative content on tactical and self-defense concepts)
Great points on why EVERYONE (LEOs included) should start BJJ: Joe Rogan - Jiu Jitsu for Self-Defense
Joe Rogan - Best martial art for self defense (grappling)
Jocko Willink on the effectiveness of grappling and striking (and why you should train both)
Why Joe Rogan started martial arts (applicable to everyone!)
Different martial arts for self defense
Benefits of Martial Arts Training
Thank you for reading - we hope this article was helpful for law enforcement officers and is a good starting place for information. We hope more police officers start Jiu Jitsu and maintain consistent training, for their safety and others!
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