By Matt Simmonds
Police1 Member
Having instructed men and women, and having been instructed for more than 20 years, I would like to offer the following thoughts and pass them along in the hopes they will ultimately help save time in training, and ultimately save lives. These are my own and are in no way meant to defame or belittle anyone or any system. These statements are a direct result of feedback from not only cadets I have trained, but veteran officers alike.
During my career as an instructor, I’ve had the pleasure and honor of teaching thousands of students from all walks of life, with different backgrounds, different skill sets, and varying degrees of experience.
During that time, I’ve instructed not only three basic academy classes a year, but five times a year I had the pleasure to teach a specialized class mixed with retired LEOs, and recent graduates from other academies, many of whom had not worked in law enforcement yet.
It was the feedback from these individuals that would sometimes make me cringe. The stories I would consistently hear were the lack of training they originally received that left them feeling helpless and lacking confidence to perform their duties.
Basic skills such as cooperative subject handcuffing, baton and OC deployment, weapon retention, and lack of general knowledge of their agencies’ Use-of-Force policy were just some of the issues we had to deal with.
I initially looked up and said to myself, “Thank God there are good FTOs out there!”
However, that’s not always the case...
I started to look for solutions to this seemingly-overwhelming task and came up with some ideas. The first thing was to approach the powers that be and ask for more time and more instructors to work with those that really wanted to learn the skills necessary to work in the field. We were able to shave some time off the classroom curriculum and free up more time for hands on instruction. This was eagerly embraced by the vast majority of the class, (although there were some who wanted to sit on the sidelines and text their buddies back home and wait for five o’clock and the bar to open).
The only issue I had with these trainees was that they were not held to the same standards as the basic class who were trained and then rigorously tested to ensure they were proficient with the techniques.
Again, thank God for FTOs!
As for being familiar with the Use of Force policies, I suggested they go back to their agency and ask for copies and explanations. If they are not satisfied after that, time to go job hunting.
One of the other major revelations was the variation in styles and systems from one academy to the next. Now I was trying to teach a certain control tactic “system” to people that had all these different backgrounds and abilities.
As we all know, sometimes we get “married” to a certain system for a number of reasons, whether we thought the instructor was cool, or maybe we could perform the skills very fluidly in a static environment, or whatever other reasons we can come up with.
The truth is, that particular system or technique is no good if it will not work when you need it most — under stress! Far too many of the students had never even been in a mat room, or much less been exposed to reality based scenarios with a subject coming at them in RedMan or HighGear.
Okay, now we have a new issue to deal with; How do we get instructors and trainees all on the same page with all these systems that are out there and make it work and keep administration and chiefs and sheriff’s all happy?
The answer: take the best of the best and make it into one. How did we accomplish this? We had instructors from various backgrounds come in and demonstrate what they had previously learned and we dissected each and every technique and basically beat the hell out of each other to see whether or not they would actually work.
Understanding that most techniques work some of the time, we wanted to ensure that the ones we were going to teach would work all or most of the time under stress. After awhile, we were able to accomplish this.
The next hurdle came when someone raised the question about liability and legal problems about using one copyrighted system and blending it with a competitor’s copyrighted system.
After all, some of them would like you to believe that they invented the “wrist lock” or the “standing arm bar takedown” or “tactical breathing exercises.”
The truth is that all these techniques have their roots in some form of ancient martial arts, and have been around for centuries. What has happened is that over the years people have interpreted them in their own way and tried to claim them as their own, and given them different names.
While a few have some excellent training programs, far too many have exploited the knowledge of others to make a quick buck.
Let’s look at the analogy of teaching (and learning) music... take the guitar for example.
A beginner will usually learn three basic chords, C, D, and G.
Very simple to learn — and the truth is, there are literally thousands of songs that can be played using those three simple chords.
Now, how well you play those chords and how fast will determine how many people actually want to listen. With a little practice you can embellish on those chords and get even more people to listen. Now you are getting even better so you learn more chords and eventually you can start composing your own songs. James Taylor, Stephen Stills, Mason Williams, Peter Frampton, Carlos Santana, to name just a few, all use those chords in their songs, just in a different style.
I never heard of any of them claiming to have invented those chords.
The same thing is being done with defensive tactics. Many agencies see the benefit in this and are changing over to a hybrid training system. The military has done that with their combatives program as well. Don’t be afraid to look at different “composers” and don’t be afraid to give credit where credit is due.
It is my sincere hope that with the dangers we face today, that every LEO has the opportunity to come out of their training with the confidence that they will go home whole after every shift, mentally and physically. Do not be afraid to ask questions of your administration, instructors, senior officers or whoever or whatever it takes to achieve that confidence.
Most of all, train smart and “Train like your life depends on it!”
Respectfully submitted,
Matt Simmonds
