Police undergo training to help with those resisting arrest

BECKLEY, W.Va. (AP) - Beckley police officers are receiving defensive training that could help save their lives and the lives of suspects.

Every officer, more than 50, will receive the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu training by the end of April at Family Martial Arts in Beckley.

Instructor Jason Wilcox said officers are discussing and practicing strategies that will give them techniques to use instead of leaning on deadly force.

The first set of skills they learn are control and arrest strategies.

“A person should always follow law enforcement officer’s commands. If an officer tells them to turn around and put their hands in the air, they should, but these techniques give them additional skills. Officers are learning techniques they can use to control a situation, take a suspect to the ground and make an arrest without using extreme or violent maneuvers,” he said.

The techniques are meant to aid officers if a suspect is resisting an arrest, is not complying with verbal commands or has attacked an officer without warning.

Beckley Police officers are also learning survive and escape strategies.

Wilcox said these techniques are meant to be used should an officer find himself in a “worst case scenario” - pinned on the ground, mounted or in a hold.

Sgt. Adam Jones is a Beckley Police officer and trained as a police instructor in Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.

Jones said he has used the technique - which relies on using leverage to gain physical control of an opponent - several times in the field.

Suspects who do not comply or resist arrest have become the norm, he said.

“This is a good supplemental training to the training we already have,” he added.

Wilcox explained, “Using a gun is always an option for an officer, but we are giving them more options to minimize the use of deadly force.”

Wilcox has been a martial arts instructor for 20 years and began working with Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in 2013.

The realistic techniques rooted in street self-defense translate well to training for law enforcement.

___

Information from: The Register-Herald, https://www.register-herald.com