Defensive tactics training: Moving from Sankyo to rear compliance or decentralization

Having been an active street cop for the entire 33 years of my police career, as well as an active police trainer for 43 years, in this series I share some of the defensive tactics techniques that helped me prevail on the street. The series presents a variety of defensive tactics in a format that allows you to follow the instructions and practice the technique. Remember practice makes prepared.

In my previous article in this series, I showed you Sankyo. Some readers suggested this move would never work on the street. For those of you who said that you are correct. It will never work on the street for you if you look at a technique and discard it at first glance as you will commit neither the time nor the effort to train to make it a viable street technique for you. That goes for Sankyo and any other technique you can think of.

For me, I found I had to work long and hard before my Sankyo technique was street-ready so I can understand the hesitancy of others. Even when Sankyo became street-ready for me, it was never my go-to technique. I used it when I wanted to not only win but also impress a crowd of onlookers. If I had to arrest someone in front of a crowd, I wanted the crowd on my side. Sankyo was always a crowd-pleaser.