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By Craig Dickerson and Fernando Carvajal
Montgomery County (Md.) Police Department
If you’re a fan of Batman and you’ve seen the last two movies with Christian Bale, you‘ve seen KFM. This fighting method was chosen over all others for the Caped Crusader. The Keysi Fighting Method comes from the streets of Spain and is being taught in Europe, it’s new to the United States with only a handful of instructors.
Most Law Enforcement Defensive Tactics training stresses creating distance between the officer and the assailant by retreating. The idea is that the longer the distance between the two, the more time the officer has to react to the threat. Depending on your duties or location you might not have the option to retreat. You might find yourself in a jail cell (corrections), processing room (police/deputies) or inside a vehicle (undercover officer) and the possibility to retreat is simply not there; with KFM we found a solution to this scenario.
Developed by Justo Dieguez Serrano and Andy Norman from Spain, KFM is a fighting art dedicated to the study of street survival. It is based on natural fighting instincts and it’s in a constant state of evolution. It’s designed not only to defend yourself from one adversary, but multiple people at once. FBI analysis shows that there is a 60 percent chance an assault on an officer involves more then one person.
The first thing you notice about KFM is the protective position: your hands are placed on the crown of your head creating a frame. This triangle frame is so solid that in a demo we had an officer who weighed over 300 pounds (I weigh 180 pounds) walk across my arms with no problem.
The Spanish word for the frame is called Pensador (Thinking Man). Another demonstration Instructor 1 wearing no headgear no pads for protection faces instructor 2, who is using a pair of focus mitts. Instructor 2 attacks Instructor 1 throwing strikes as hard as he can Instructor 1 defends using the Pensador from the standing, kneeling, sitting , and prone. We challenge the students to do the same from the boxing stance that everyone uses; we’ve had no takers. The Pensador protects the face from being hit as the bad guy swings, he either hits your forearms or elbows injuring his hand. The beauty is the Officer is defending himself but also maximizing his reaction by going on the offensive attacking. The Officer can then counter using a wide range of strikes, grabs or takedowns while protecting his head. These two demos are done twice a week using the biggest officer during In-Service DT training, we train 70-80 officers a week.
Change — the six letter word that in Law Enforcement — is not liked at all. So how do you change your training since everything in life, including training, is always evolving. Well, you don’t change the training; you simply add more tools to the officer’s toolbox. This year’s in-service DT training starts with the above demos, officers break into 3 person groups and practice taking full power blows while using the pensador frame. We then add hammer fists, jab/cross, and palm heel strikes combined with knees/kicks, which are tools they’ve already learned. Our second demo is a ground control technique that can be used by a single Officer or a team of two depending on the suspect’s size. This technique controls the head and feet allowing the Officer(s) to be aware of their environment, remaining erect and able to manage the scene. Officers then perform this skill on each other.
Officers must have the mental toughness to survive in the streets, we stress this in the gym. Officers must be able to go from would be prey to predator taking the fight to the assailant. Officers should not transition to their protective instruments until they’re in control physically/mentally of the suspect and themselves. This training is done in an hour time frame, the feedback has been positive.
That’s how we’ve incorporated Defensive Tactics training to the first of two 10 hour in-service training days in 2010.
About the Authors
Craig Dickerson is a 25-year veteran of the Montgomery County Police Department in Maryland. He spent 17 years full time SWAT as a Sniper Assistant and Entry Team Leader. For the past five years he’s been assigned to the Training Academy as the Senior Lead Tactics, DT and less lethal instructor and Assistant KFM (Keysi Fighting Method) Instructor. Contact Craig at Craig.Dickerson@montgomerycountymd.gov.
Fernando Carvajal is a 17-year veteran of the Montgomery County Police Department in Maryland. He spent 4 years in SWAT. For the past five years he’s been assigned to the Training Academy as the Senior Lead EVOC Instructor, he’s also a Lead Tactics, DT Instructor and Assistant KFM (Keysi Fighting Method) Instructor. Contact Fernando at Luis.Carvajal@montgomerycountymd.gov.
