I have found that participation in contact sports, wrestling and football provided me a set of skills to handle and control a suspect! To the ground for those that resist, for control and handcuffing. Rear neck choke hold works. Weapon retention, etc. The best tool was a 100 lb
German Shepard “ Baron” who literally made all small and large suspect to obey commands!
Great article. I’ve found it incredibly difficult to move LE skills trainers to embrace these research informed methods and training methods. But, it’s worth the continued effort! Thank you for the kind of insights that will help me better explain where we need to focus our energy and resources to improve learning.
Force Science MOI notes multiple other studies showing the same thing, so this isn't the 'first' one, but the results speak for themselves. If we go further into EcoD and look into other sports, Rob Gray quotes various studies including some on martial arts/combat sports techniques that are also relevant. So the evidence is out there, and has been increasing over time. The key obstacles to going to an evidence-based ecological approach as opposed to block technical, one size fits all linear training are cultural - this is the way we've always done it; and instructional - the average police instructor would need a great deal more training and development to teach ecologically. If as Chris Cushion noted police training "creates powerful illusions of competence," that goes double for police instructor training.
Yes there are several other studies showing similar results. I think the authors are claiming that they are the first ones to do this sort of task analysis in an academy environment. There is absolutely a cultural issue with training (like every other area of change) and I agree on instructors needing a lot more development. Most haven't thought deeply enough about what they are trying to accomplish.
The Force Science course mentions a German study, academy setting, that involved knife defense. I'd have to search for it, but it very much supported the same findings. The "test" was an actual surprise "assault" using training weapons and during controlled campus conditions, as I recall. Retention and transfer with the EcoD approach was confirmed.
The Force Science course mentions a German study, academy setting, that involved knife defense. I'd have to search for it, but it very much supported the same findings. The "test" was an actual surprise "assault" using training weapons and during controlled campus conditions, as I recall. Retention and transfer with the EcoD approach was confirmed.
I wrestled in HS/college at Heavy Weight. I was 200 Lbs. The opponent went from 200 to 350 pounds. Then took Karate in College; then defensive tactics in LE Training. All of the above taught self confidence in defensive tactics, arrests, etc. Back then we never had Video Games, play stations, etc.
Awesome Article
I have found that participation in contact sports, wrestling and football provided me a set of skills to handle and control a suspect! To the ground for those that resist, for control and handcuffing. Rear neck choke hold works. Weapon retention, etc. The best tool was a 100 lb
German Shepard “ Baron” who literally made all small and large suspect to obey commands!
Yessir that is it!
Great article. I’ve found it incredibly difficult to move LE skills trainers to embrace these research informed methods and training methods. But, it’s worth the continued effort! Thank you for the kind of insights that will help me better explain where we need to focus our energy and resources to improve learning.
Great article. This analogous to traditional martial arts training, where technique training
is rather scripted. Real fighting isn’t.
Force Science MOI notes multiple other studies showing the same thing, so this isn't the 'first' one, but the results speak for themselves. If we go further into EcoD and look into other sports, Rob Gray quotes various studies including some on martial arts/combat sports techniques that are also relevant. So the evidence is out there, and has been increasing over time. The key obstacles to going to an evidence-based ecological approach as opposed to block technical, one size fits all linear training are cultural - this is the way we've always done it; and instructional - the average police instructor would need a great deal more training and development to teach ecologically. If as Chris Cushion noted police training "creates powerful illusions of competence," that goes double for police instructor training.
Yes there are several other studies showing similar results. I think the authors are claiming that they are the first ones to do this sort of task analysis in an academy environment. There is absolutely a cultural issue with training (like every other area of change) and I agree on instructors needing a lot more development. Most haven't thought deeply enough about what they are trying to accomplish.
The Force Science course mentions a German study, academy setting, that involved knife defense. I'd have to search for it, but it very much supported the same findings. The "test" was an actual surprise "assault" using training weapons and during controlled campus conditions, as I recall. Retention and transfer with the EcoD approach was confirmed.
This one? Koerner, S., Staller, M.S. and Kecke, A. (2021), "“There must be an ideal solution…”Assessing training methods of knife defense performance of police recruits", Policing: An International Journal, Vol. 44 No. 3, pp. 483-497. https://doi.org/10.1108/PIJPSM-08-2020-0138 - I reviewed it here - https://tacticalscience.substack.com/p/there-is-no-ideal-technique
The Force Science course mentions a German study, academy setting, that involved knife defense. I'd have to search for it, but it very much supported the same findings. The "test" was an actual surprise "assault" using training weapons and during controlled campus conditions, as I recall. Retention and transfer with the EcoD approach was confirmed.
I wrestled in HS/college at Heavy Weight. I was 200 Lbs. The opponent went from 200 to 350 pounds. Then took Karate in College; then defensive tactics in LE Training. All of the above taught self confidence in defensive tactics, arrests, etc. Back then we never had Video Games, play stations, etc.
Stay Safe Out there!