SOUTHLAKE, Texas — Police departments in North Texas are training new recruits in a jiu-jitsu based hold designed to improve safety for officers and suspects, CBS News reported.
Recruits for the 27 police departments that utilize the North Central Texas Council of Governments Regional Police academy will be trained in the SafeWrap restraint technique, according to the report.
“If we can minimize liability, minimize risk, minimize trauma, that’s the whole point and that’s what we want to do,” Christy Martinez, the director of the academy, told CBS.
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The hold positions a suspect on their side, reducing risk of suffocation and allowing the officer more control.
“We give a higher degree of safety to both the officer and the subject because we prevent escalation,” Charlie Fernandez, the SafeWrap instructor and director at Gracie Survival Tactics with Gracie University, told CBS. “We take away the tactical advantages of the subject, so the subject doesn’t have as much opportunity to attack or escape from the officer. So, by doing that, we give greater safety to everybody involved.”
The technique has been adopted by nearly 200 agencies nationwide, according to the report.
Southlake Police trainee Abigail Mendoza is one of the academy recruits working through the tactical training.
“Being smaller, I don’t have a lot of wasted energy,” Mendoza told CBS. “I feel in control, I feel confident, holding their legs or holding their arms, and wrapping around them.”
