Law Enforcement Articles

Self-Defense Tactics - 3 Keys to Effectively Escaping Grab Attacks
By Jeffrey Miller

Every student of self-defense and martial arts should learn how to deal with a grab attack. For some though, the prospect of letting an attacker get close enough to take hold of you isn’t pleasant in the least.

But, if we can stay focused on scientific principles, we can see that there are only three key points that we need for controlling a self-defense situation where we’re being grabbed by our assailant.

The problem for most students though, is in knowing what to be prepared for. I’ve heard more than a few students express the “impossible” nature of preparing for a grabbing situation because…

…there are too many variables.

How will we know what he’s going to do? At least with punching and kicks, they say, you know he’s probably going for your head or your torso. But, against an attacker who likes to grab, you could find yourself defending against things like:

* Single or double-hand frontal chokes
* 2-hand or cross-arm chokes from the rear
* 1 or 2-hand lapel grabs
* Cross or mirror-side wrist or sleeve grabs
* Body-grabs (”bearhugs”)
* Judo-style grabs, and…
* Combination-type grabbing attacks (i.e. sleeve & lapel, etc.)

You have all of these possibilities without even looking at the grab-and-punch or grab-and-kick scenario. So, how can you learn to handle these types of self-defense situations without memorizing a ton of techniques?

The Secret Is In Thinking Strategically

The problem is that most students, and teachers for that matter, tend to think mechanically when it comes to learning self-defense. But, if you’re going to develop any level of mastery with your skills, you’re going to have to start thinking on a strategic level.

What that means is this: You’re going to have to look at principles and ideas, rather than specific details.

When dealing with an assailant who launches a grabbing attack, you need to stay focused on three important elements. If you’ve done your prep work and learned more than just a bunch of pre-rehearsed techniques or kata “examples,” you should be just fine.

What are the 3 Keys?

They are:

* Think outside the box. Unfortunately, most of us were raised in a society focused heavily on sports, competition, and “fair play.” Avoid the common tendency to want to wrestle with a wrestler. What that means is this - avoid the tendency to grab him because he’s grabbing you. You must have other skills and techniques that you can use to get him off of you.
* Use leverage and attack weak-points rather than relying on strength. Learn the skill of using strong-points against weak ones as outlined in Sun Tsu’s “Art of War.” A little study about how the body works, specifically how and where it’s strong and the same for how it’s weak, will go a long way toward being able to escape from a bigger, stronger opponent.
* Remain covered. Boxers, and martial artists who focus on punching and kicking, know the importance of covering their targets against the possibility of incoming blows. Wrestlers tend to forget or, worse yet, never learn this. But, you must remember that a self-defense situation is NOT a sport competition where you are both limited by a set of rules to doing the same things to each other. Just because you can execute that wrist-grab escape, doesn’t mean that you’ve also eliminated potential targets for him to hit with his follow-up attack.

Keep these keys in mind when you’re training, and make sure that you’re learning from someone who does the same.

There’s much more to defending against a brutal attacker than simply executing a textbook perfect self-defense move.

Go ahead and learn the cool moves. But also make sure that you’re learning how to think strategically.

Thinking strategically is one of the marks of a true master. Regardless of whether your focus is on martial arts, ninja training, or whatever… if your goal is real-world self-defense skills, then you need to avoid falling for, what I call, the Karate-Myth.

Jeffrey M. Miller is the founder and director of Warrior Concepts International in Sunbury, Pennsylvania. He is the author of the “Foundations of Self-Defense Mastery” eCourse, which is available free of charge to subscribers of his self defense newsletter. You can subscribe to the newsletter at: He is also the creator of the EDR: Non-Martial Arts Defensive Training Program. For information about self-defense training, training opportunities, media interviews, or corporate staff training programs, contact Warrior Concepts Int’l in the US and Canada at (570) 988-2228.

Imagine Your Worst Nightmare, a gun stuck in your face! “Gun Disarming Tactics for the Streets“ goes beyond safety and shooting fundamentals, using modern police, military and training techniques, you will learn how to disarm your opponent using just a few empty-hand skills. This program integrates step-by-step training with live seminar footage to create a comprehensive course for tactical law enforcement training and martial artists! “Gun Disarming Tactics” features founder of Defensive Tactics Options and experienced martial artist, Doug Young. Whether you deploy it for home defense or to disarm a criminal or terrorist in a self-defense situation, knowing how to use a handgun is a must in today’s violent world!

IN EASY TECHNIQUES FOR SELF DEFENSE, Gene Simco demonstrates an assortment of effective self-defense techniques that any one can apply in threatening situations.

With an easy approach to self-defense when physical confrontations are unavoidable, you can train yourself in an automatic, instinctive, reliable response to virtually any form of attack. This easy approach does not require size, strength, or speed. It requires you to use your brain and practice constantly.

This lesson includes a supplemental segment on techniques for law enforcement and other professionals, which they use to subdue and restrain their attackers as well as defend themselves.

GENE SIMCO, a renowned martial artist who holds black belts in both classic and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, is a sought-after instructor among professional and recreational practitioners alike. Gene has years of experience teaching in military and law enforcement and is a Special Operations Combative Instructor.

No Video Responses have been posted yet.

Click here to post a video response.

Tactical Explosive Breaching: An Introduction on the use of Explosives in Today’s Police Department
by Sergeant Steven McClanahan

As police departments enter the 21st century we must be cognizant of the society that we live in and focus our attention in adapting to the latest changes that enhance our ability to better serve the community. I will discuss the practical applications of tactical explosive breaching based on my personal experience, articles, and interviews, in an effort to persuade your administration to adopt a tactical explosive breaching plan.

As a police administrator with Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) training I understand the important impact that the use of explosives plays in police work. My goal is to provide your department with a comprehensive account of explosive breaching as it considers
implementing an explosive tactical breaching plan.

In presenting a credible argument for the use of explosives I believe that it is necessary for me to give the reader an account of my background and knowledge with explosives. I became a Little Rock Police Officer in January 1995. After graduating from the Police Academy I was assigned to the Patrol Division for almost three years. The experience I gained while working as a patrol officer was positive; however, I wanted to increase my knowledge in police work. After completing the SWAT tryouts, I was placed on the eligibility list and was subsequently transferred to the SWAT team in September 1997. Soon after transferring to the SWAT team we began training on using explosives as a breaching technique. The commander of the SWAT unit wanted to make sure that every team member had a complete and thorough knowledge of explosives. Every team member attended a class on explosive breaching and was tested on their knowledge and ability to handle explosives in a classroom and during training scenarios. At the completion of the class, the SWAT supervisors decided to create a four man breaching team that would be responsible for explosive entries. I was selected to be a member of the explosive breaching team. Although the entire SWAT team contacted to receive explosive training, the four man breaching team would be tasked with actual explosive entries.

After the formation of the Tactical Explosive Breaching team, I began researching policies and procedures from police departments around the country. In doing this I worked closely with the SWAT supervisors and I played an instrumental role in developing the policies that our department is currently using. I will explain the importance of having a comprehensive policy on the use of explosives later in this report.

In implementing an explosive breaching plan there are many things that should be considered. Throughout the next several paragraphs I will cover the initial reasoning why departments of all sizes should implement a Tactical Explosive Breaching plan. I will discuss three areas of importance and provide detailed accounts and facts that will have a tremendous impact in swaying reluctant administrators on the use of explosives. The first area that will examine is officer safety.
Read the rest…

Police Equipment
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Peter_Emerson]Peter Emerson

United States has a compound level of policing and law enforcement services. These refer to the federal police, state police and county police.

Along with this, there also includes special-purpose district and local police. There are approximately 18,000 independent police agencies in the US.

Law enforcement varies on different degrees at different levels of government agencies. It is also commonly entrusted with the responsibilities of discouraging criminal activity and preventing the occurrences of crimes. Other functions provided by them include the service and enforcement of warrants, writs and other orders of the courts, providing first response to emergencies and other threats to public safety.

They are also required to protect certain public facilities and infrastructure, maintain public order, protect public officials, and work on some correctional facilities. This is usually at the local level.
Read the rest…

Self Defense - The Most Critical Five Seconds of Your Life

That is what the time is called when you are faced with a life or death situation from a lowly street punk to an armed assailant. Whether it is a parking lot or alley confrontation or a home invasion those first few seconds after the confrontation starts are absolutely critical and largely determine the outcome.

“What happens in the next 5 seconds will determine who walks away, him or you. There is no time to breathe, no time to think, only time to take immediate decisive action in what would likely save your life. There must be no hesitation in what you do next.”
Read the rest…

Everyday in this country thousands of brave men and women put on a badge. These men and women put their lives on the line, to protect all of us.

What many of us don’t realize is that the job of police officer is far more stressful, and demanding than we all think. Before I began studying a career in law enforcement, I was very interested. I am the grandson of a sheriffs deputy, and son of a police officer. What I have learned throughout my life, and what I know now as opposed to before, will help me in my future career greatly.

This year, twice as many police officers have been killed in the line of duty, than last year. In my opinion, this is mainly due to easier accessibility to firearms, weapons, and the growing amount of illegal narcotics on out streets.

Illegal narcotics link directly to violent crime. Another factor is our juveniles who are becoming more violent and willing to due wrong than ever before. This is due to a lack of discipline from parents, video games, and violent movies where it depicts police officers as the bad guys. (ex: Grand Theft Auto).
Read the rest…