Newsletter for March 2003

Inside this issue:

Absorb What is Useful
If You've Got a Gun, You'd Better Know How to Keep It
Training Your Awareness
Officer Shooting by Handcuffed Suspect a Poignant Reminder
Standing Guillotine has Pitfalls for Armed Agents or Officers

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“A bandit doesn’t want to fight, he wants to win.  That’s why he prefers to have three of him and only one of you.  A street thug has nothing to lose except his health and his well-being.  He doesn’t want to get hurt.”

Col. Jeff Cooper

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Absorb What is Useful

Bruce Lee said something to this effect and probably was at the forefront of the huge watershed that we've seen in the martial arts world in the last 20 years. 

While there is a lot of merit in strengthening your weak areas, don't forget your strengths.  You will need to perform at a very high level during combat when everything is conspiring to degrade your skills.  Therefore, find out what type of techniques work for you.  That means for your temperament, for your body type, speed, strength, etc.

Keep the things you at which you excel.  Your techniques, your strategies, your tactics will need to be your own when the flag goes up. 

A case in point:  I'm in a training session with a very high level practitioner.  He's having trouble performing an entry using a basic method.  No matter how he tries, he's having trouble doing the basic move.  But, he is an expert at the advanced move.  Do I care that he can't do the basic move well?  Not really.  Yes, fundamentals are important, but I am not going to try and change what works for him when he can defend himself against virtually anybody on the planet.

Find the things that work well -- for you.   Yes, you should try new things, but don't feel guilty if you return to the methods that are your own.

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If You've Got a Gun, You'd Better Know How to Keep It

Always practical as well as tactical, Ken Hackathorn says you should learn how to keep your firearm in a fight.

“Spend some range time mastering your retention-firing skills.  At the range that most people are assaulted, you will want to be able to present your handgun to the target without pushing it out so far that the assailant can grab or deflect it.  For most people this means practicing shooting with your wrist or forearm against the torso, right above the holster on the strong side.  Always try to gain some distance from your target by either stepping away or using your support hand to shove or strike your opponent so the range is increased and gives you the edge.  Never assume that you will get the chance to use your favorite two-handed, arms-extended firing stance when you are attacked.  Don’t be afraid to investigate some of the unarmed martial arts as part of your defensive package of skills.  Be smart and prepare for the worst case scenario.”

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Training Your Awareness
 
 Mark Twain said it best, “It’s easier to stay out of trouble than to get  out of trouble.”
 
 Martial artists, personal protection specialists and other professionals  practice a constant state of relaxed awareness – sometimes called  “condition yellow”. They know that an attack recognized is an attack
 halfway foiled. 
 
 To train your awareness level you can play a little game with yourself.  Set up your game however you would like.  You can deduct points every time  you are “surprised” by someone when you turn a corner, “surprised” by a
 car traveling in your blind spot, or when you allow someone behind you in  the store.  You can give yourself points every time you notice someone on  the street before they notice you, you correctly predict someone’s
 maneuver on the highway or you don’t give someone your back on the  elevator.
 
 Other professionals I know play the “what if” game.  They mentally  rehearse where they would seek cover if a gunman opened fire.  They  rehearse where they would drive if there was a confrontation at the next  light. 
 
 Rekindle etiquette in your daily activities.  Hold the door for people and  insist that they precede you.  Let other drivers ahead of you on the road  (you can see their license plate from here).  These small gestures are a
 pleasant surprise for most people, but you give yourself a tactical  advantage, which is why most of our etiquette started in the first place.
 

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Officer Shooting by Handcuffed Suspect a Poignant Reminder

A handcuffed female, being transported to jail, shot a police officer from the back seat of his cruiser.

Officer James Hester was shot in the right shoulder by Rosemary Maria Galindo with a semi-automatic handgun despite being handcuffed.

I don't know too many of the details, but the lesson here for law enforcement officers, security agents and loss prevention officers is to search your suspect right after cuffing or when accepting a subject from another officer.

If you are working by yourself you need to subdue the suspect, cuff, search and then transport.  If someone hands off a subject to you, search them again.

My method with handling prisoners is the same as handling a firearm.  When I accept a firearm from someone, I open the action/slide and check to make sure it is unloaded.  When I hand the firearm back to the person, I open the action again.  I feel no disrespect when the person accepting the firearm from me visually and manually checks the condition of the gun.

The same should hold true with your subject.  Search them for weapons before transporting.  Search them when accepting them from someone else.  Help your fellow agent/officer when you hand them off by searching them again.  Don't accept the other officer's verbal assurance that they have been searched.  Search them again.

And make sure you don't stop if and when you find one weapon.  Just like cops, many bad guys carry multiple backup weapons.   And don't be dissuaded if your subject is a female.   Many times a female who is associated with a gang is designated to carry the weapons.  The thought here is that male cops might not search the female associate as well as they might a male.  I was on a call where we took two handguns out of a baby carriage of a girlfriend of a gang banger.  We never even disturbed the baby that was sleeping in the carriage.   

In the above case, we were tipped off by a witness who saw the two gang members transfer the firearms to the baby carriage before we got there.

But the point is SEARCH YOUR PRISONER FOR WEAPONS -- EVERYTIME!

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 Fact:  The Department of Justice notes that 80 percent of all assaults start with a shove or a grab.

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Standing Guillotine has Pitfalls for Armed Agents or Officers

I love the standing guillotine as a counter to a tackle (or "bum rush" as some people call it).  It works well for me and I've seen others work it effectively and consistently in cage matches and mixed martial arts tournament.

To perform the guillotine you basically catch the guy's neck in the crook of one arm and use the blade of your forearm to pull up against his throat (see the photo illustration at right). 

It is very effective when done by a taller person against a shorter person.  Variations can include the use of both hands, the use of one hand, or sitting down and pulling the attacker into your guard.

However, the problem with using this very effective technique as a defense against a tackle for the law enforcement officer is that the attacker's hands can raise up to your gunbelt level.  And, since the officer is tying up both his hands on the attacker's neck, the attacker's hand motion is virtually unchecked (see photo illustration at left).

 Even though I really like the standing guillotine, I have to advise you to learn a number of other defenses against a tackle if you are going to be armed.

You can read a number of options you might consider when being tackled by clicking here.

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