What self defense tactic works?

[slamdunc]

Tasers are known to work well. If your department issues them, the only fights you're liable to be in are the ones where you've fucked up and missed the chance to draw a superior weapon.

Refer to your Use Of Force Continuum: Taser is a superior weapon. It is not necessarily an appropriate weapon for every situation. Soft Empty Hand, Hard Empty Hand if appropriate. Taser ECD, Chemical or Impact Weapons, depending upon the level of resistance.

Body armour also slants things massively in your favour.

Body armor is protective equipment.

Getting one of your guys behind the bad guy, or even just flanking him, is a good tactic.

On stop and search, you don't want to be leaning into the driver's window. You see it all the time: People walking up to the guy's window and bending down where they couldn't possibly get their weapon and the driver could catch them totally flat footed.

You may have missed this day in the patrol tactics portion of police academy, but stops and searches aren't done simultaneously. You are 100% correct about not leaning in the window, but the search part is done after you a) have back up on scene, and b) have your bad guy(s) securely detained or under arrest.

Don't cross people's potential lines of fire either, if you can help it. That's another thing you see a lot. One guy lurking back at the cruiser and the other guy walking over to the perp more or less in front of him. One of you ought to be offset incase things go to shooty-land.

Where do you see this a lot? Are you teaching at a police academy somewhere?

As for the actual fisticuffs side of things: Your training may include some self defence stuff. Admittedly police self defence training is crap but.... It was there, for what it's worth.

Admittedly, yes, it is. The agency administrators have to give you something to say that they gave you something. They are in an ass-covering position (their ass, not yours).

[Jim_Jude]

IMHO, boxing is perfect for self-defense. You don't need to grapple to be effective and you don't need to expose yourself which is helpful if you're up against more than one attacker. Just maintain your distance with the footwork that you've learned and drop your attackers to the ground with well-placed punches.

You can also complement your boxing skills with close combat training. This is something that you can do at home.

For example, a kick to the groin is much better than a roundhouse kick to the head in real life. A punch to the solar plexus is better than trying to take down your attacker for an armbar.

Source: http://www.h2hcombattraining.com/close-combat-training

shut the **** up. jeezus :ChallengeAccepted:

[Estarlio]

Refer to your Use Of Force Continuum: Taser is a superior weapon. It is not necessarily an appropriate weapon for every situation. Soft Empty Hand, Hard Empty Hand if appropriate. Taser ECD, Chemical or Impact Weapons, depending upon the level of resistance.

I found it generally either a situation where you were justified in shocking them or it didn't happen. Okay, fine, every now and then you have to give someone who's getting themselves worked up a shove and tell them to stop playing silly buggers or they're gonna get nicked. That's not a fight.

I agree there's a spectrum there, ranging all the way from negotiation to shooting the guy, but parts of that spectrum see massively more use than others.

You may have missed this day in the patrol tactics portion of police academy, but stops and searches aren't done simultaneously. You are 100% correct about not leaning in the window, but the search part is done after you a) have back up on scene, and b) have your bad guy(s) securely detained or under arrest.

True. Force of habit.

Where do you see this a lot? Are you teaching at a police academy somewhere?

I saw it a lot when I was in New Orleans.

I take it it's less common than experience would tend to suggest?

[slamdunc]

I saw it a lot when I was in New Orleans.

Oops, I forgot about New Orleans--they are/were the exception to the rule.

I take it it's less common than experience would tend to suggest?

Hopefully so. I have seen things you described (the leaning over or even reaching in) during training videos of how not to do **** on a traffic stop.

[Diesel_tke]

To the OP, I'm guessing that you are street and not detention? And Police not probation? Because those are different animals.

Don't have much to add to what has already been said othere than weapons training in an alive manner. This is not done in most places. I'm blessed in the sense that I have willing partners for training this way, and experienced FMA and JMA weapons guys. So we do this alot! I don't see any FMA listed in your area. But you may be able to get to a Dog Brothers Seminar some time. Look into that.

Otherwise I've found BJJ/Judo to be the most helpful. Footwork from FMA is awesome. And I like the element of training against people with knives and sticks, because I have had incidents with both while on the job.

If you look up the Central Texas Combatives Training Group, they have meet ups all the time to train with weapons. I know they meet in El Paso, occasionally. And there is a lot of LEO/Military guys on that site. They also hold seminars with the Dog Brothers.

http://www.combativestraininggroup.com/forum/index.php

And a couple of those guys are on this forum as well.