Is there a name for the kind of fighting most policeman would do if struggling with a suspect, or is it all just sloppy scrabbling and fists if the club, gun and pepper spray are unavailable or ineffective?
There is no universal fighting style. We learn a variety of techniquies, I imagine borrowed from many different martial arts.
Of course, some cops do participate in specific martial arts. I’ve known black belts in about four different disciplines.
I know around here, CT, some of the state troopers have to take the Israeli Martial Art of Krav Maga.
Check it out here . The site itself is pretty impressive.
Gun Fu.
My martial arts (I’m taking a Kali/Thai-boxing/Jiu-jitsu course) instructor is a policeman and trains policemen a subset of what he knows that is tailored for the situations cops most often encounter. Mainly this consists of a set of escorting and submission techniques that are engineered to get an unwilling “participant” to listen to and cooperate with the officer. Joint locks and such.
I’m being a little vague here beacuse I’m relatively new to the school and don’t want to misrepresent my instructor.
When I went through the academy, they made us go through some Gracie grappling school or something like that. It was pretty worthless in my opinion.
I sure as well would’nt have minded learning that “gunkata” stuff though. It really whips a llama’s ass!
Copkido
My cousin uses ju-jitsu when needed as a NYC warrant cop.
Judo was popular among some of the cops in Mayberry, N.C. a few years back.
Happy
I’m with Czarcasm on this one.
In Japan, they use an art specifically designed for police work, called taiho-jutsu.
For more detailed discussion, check out the Close Combatives section of The E-budo site.
Regards,
Shodan
Krav Maga… oh, yeah: Jew Fu.
-Colin (a fake-fake Jew ;j)
(They offered KM at my fitness club, aerobics-style, which led me to coin the above term.)
I think the proper mock term is “Jew Jitsu”.
How the hell do you do aerobic-style Krav Maga?
*"One, two, kick in the balls, one, two, punch in the throat!
“And now - absorbation!”
When I went through the academy way back in '79, we had an instructor, Sgt Yanero, who taugh us several defensive and offensive moves that were derived from a combination of martial arts. We did not learn any one martial art in particular. Sgt. Yanero was built like Arnold Schwarzenegger, and could take the biggest guys in our class and toss them around the room with ease. Everybody paid attention in class, as the slackers got used for demonstrations.
A few years ago there was a cop in trouble because of his use of martial arts. One of his techniques invloved the use of a grip that cut off the blood supply to the brain temporarily rendering people unconcious. I think he was charged over it for use of excessive force.