Matt W.
11-10-2004, 11:19 AM
http://www.sammyfranco.com/meet.html
Have yourself a read and tell me what you think.
Here's a few thoughts...
Sammy Franco has been featured in various martial art magazines, newspapers, radio, and television - including CBS' "48 HOURS" with Dan Rather
I could find no mention of Franco or Contemporary fighting Arts on the CBSnews.com website. Of course, Franco never gives any details on his website. Perhaps he had a letter that he wrote in read on the air?
...and the Montel Williams Show.
Well, I guess that's a step up from Springer.
One aspect that separates Sammy Franco from most "arm chair" theoreticians...
Is it just me, or does that sentence read as if he is also one of the "arm chair" theoreticians?
is that Franco has firsthand experience with "street" combat. As a result, Franco's Contemporary Fighting ArtsŪ is based on "real world" experience...
Heh. He put "street" and "real world" in quotes. I guess that's because they only count as street and real world experience according to Franco's carefully crafted definition of those words!
Fighting ArtsŪ also draws from the concepts and principles of numerous sciences and disciplines...
...Of which Franco is an expert in none. Seriously, he claims to have a criminal justice degree. Yet he was somehow able to draw from his extensive knowledge of "police and military science, criminal justice, criminology, sociology, human psychology, philosophy, histrionics, kinesics, proxemics, kinesiology, emergency medicine, crisis management, and human anatomy" in formulating his CFA system. Maybe he's got an extensive list of experts in those fields he consulted with? Or, you know, he read a couple of magazine articles. Maybe.
As a result, CFA gives men and women...
Well, men anyway. Franco is a notorious sexist.
fact, he is a Law Enforcement Master Instructor
Unverified claim. He provides no further info, and the LEOs I've spoken to have never
heard of such a title.
who designed, implemented and taught officer survival training to the United States Border Patrol (USBP).
I have contacted the USBP. No one I spoke to has ever heard of him. I have not, however, been able to get anyone to return my calls or emails who would be in a position to actually refute his claim, though. Not yet anyway.
He also instructs members of the US Secret Service, Special Forces, Washington DC Police Department, Montgomery County Police Department, Montgomery County Deputy Sheriffs, and the US Library of Congress Police.
For this statement to be true, all that would have had to have happened is for one person in each of those agencies to have to come to one class or seminar or, perhaps, even just bought one of his instructionals. Though his claim here might lead someone to believe he has officially instructed for those agencies, he has carefully avoided making such an assertion.
He is a member of the prestigious America Society of Law Enforcement Trainers (ASLET)...
Correction: He WAS a member. I contacted ASLET and he has let his member ship lapse. Also, in response to a question I asked about whether or not his membership certified Franco as anything in the eyes of ASLET I was given the response, "Membership in ASLET DOES NOT certify one as any form of expert in the field of law enforcement training." Let me put it to you this way... I could be a member of ASLET if I wanted to join.
...and he is also listed and nominated in the "Who's Who Directory of Law Enforcement Instructors."
No LEO I've spoken to has ever heard of this publication. Internet searches only turn up mentions of it BY FRANCO. Heh. Anyone care to do a Lexis-Nexis search for it?
Sammy Franco is a nationally certified Law Enforcement Instructor in the following curriculums: PR-24 Side-Handle Baton, Police Arrest and Control Procedures, Police Personal Weapons Tactics, Police Power Handcuffing Methods, Police (OCAT) Oleoresin Capsicum Aerosol Training, Police Weapon Retention and Disarming Methods, Police Edged Weapon Countermeasures and "Use of Force" Assessment and Response Methods.
Well, several things about this. First, it's hard to verify without knowing where he claims he got these certifications from. Second, even if true, none of this really means much. LEOs I've spoken to have said that the physical aspects of (for example) their ASP baton training are pretty simple and that most of the time is spent on training when and how they may legally employ such force. Very little of that is applicable to civilian self defense. Third, I would love for anyone with more LE experience than me to give their opinion of these claims.
Mr. Franco is also a nationally certified firearm instructor (police and civilian) who specializes in firearm safety, personal protection, and advanced combat shooting
Can anyone tell me who gives "national certifications" like this?
While maintaining an ongoing mission to deliver "the combative truth", Mr. Franco has also authored nine best-selling books...
Yeah. I've spoken to a former student of Franco's who claims to have been one of his top guys. He says Franco taught watered down, light contact MMA. He also says Franco never rolled with any of his students for fear of looking bad. Oh yeah... and define "best selling".
In addition, he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland and is regularly featured as a speaker at a number of professional conferences.
My wife has a BS in criminal justice. I guess since hers is a BS instead of a BA she's even more of a combat expert than Franco. And what professional conferences has he spoken at? My bet? He'll never say.
Have yourself a read and tell me what you think.
Here's a few thoughts...
Sammy Franco has been featured in various martial art magazines, newspapers, radio, and television - including CBS' "48 HOURS" with Dan Rather
I could find no mention of Franco or Contemporary fighting Arts on the CBSnews.com website. Of course, Franco never gives any details on his website. Perhaps he had a letter that he wrote in read on the air?
...and the Montel Williams Show.
Well, I guess that's a step up from Springer.
One aspect that separates Sammy Franco from most "arm chair" theoreticians...
Is it just me, or does that sentence read as if he is also one of the "arm chair" theoreticians?
is that Franco has firsthand experience with "street" combat. As a result, Franco's Contemporary Fighting ArtsŪ is based on "real world" experience...
Heh. He put "street" and "real world" in quotes. I guess that's because they only count as street and real world experience according to Franco's carefully crafted definition of those words!
Fighting ArtsŪ also draws from the concepts and principles of numerous sciences and disciplines...
...Of which Franco is an expert in none. Seriously, he claims to have a criminal justice degree. Yet he was somehow able to draw from his extensive knowledge of "police and military science, criminal justice, criminology, sociology, human psychology, philosophy, histrionics, kinesics, proxemics, kinesiology, emergency medicine, crisis management, and human anatomy" in formulating his CFA system. Maybe he's got an extensive list of experts in those fields he consulted with? Or, you know, he read a couple of magazine articles. Maybe.
As a result, CFA gives men and women...
Well, men anyway. Franco is a notorious sexist.
fact, he is a Law Enforcement Master Instructor
Unverified claim. He provides no further info, and the LEOs I've spoken to have never
heard of such a title.
who designed, implemented and taught officer survival training to the United States Border Patrol (USBP).
I have contacted the USBP. No one I spoke to has ever heard of him. I have not, however, been able to get anyone to return my calls or emails who would be in a position to actually refute his claim, though. Not yet anyway.
He also instructs members of the US Secret Service, Special Forces, Washington DC Police Department, Montgomery County Police Department, Montgomery County Deputy Sheriffs, and the US Library of Congress Police.
For this statement to be true, all that would have had to have happened is for one person in each of those agencies to have to come to one class or seminar or, perhaps, even just bought one of his instructionals. Though his claim here might lead someone to believe he has officially instructed for those agencies, he has carefully avoided making such an assertion.
He is a member of the prestigious America Society of Law Enforcement Trainers (ASLET)...
Correction: He WAS a member. I contacted ASLET and he has let his member ship lapse. Also, in response to a question I asked about whether or not his membership certified Franco as anything in the eyes of ASLET I was given the response, "Membership in ASLET DOES NOT certify one as any form of expert in the field of law enforcement training." Let me put it to you this way... I could be a member of ASLET if I wanted to join.
...and he is also listed and nominated in the "Who's Who Directory of Law Enforcement Instructors."
No LEO I've spoken to has ever heard of this publication. Internet searches only turn up mentions of it BY FRANCO. Heh. Anyone care to do a Lexis-Nexis search for it?
Sammy Franco is a nationally certified Law Enforcement Instructor in the following curriculums: PR-24 Side-Handle Baton, Police Arrest and Control Procedures, Police Personal Weapons Tactics, Police Power Handcuffing Methods, Police (OCAT) Oleoresin Capsicum Aerosol Training, Police Weapon Retention and Disarming Methods, Police Edged Weapon Countermeasures and "Use of Force" Assessment and Response Methods.
Well, several things about this. First, it's hard to verify without knowing where he claims he got these certifications from. Second, even if true, none of this really means much. LEOs I've spoken to have said that the physical aspects of (for example) their ASP baton training are pretty simple and that most of the time is spent on training when and how they may legally employ such force. Very little of that is applicable to civilian self defense. Third, I would love for anyone with more LE experience than me to give their opinion of these claims.
Mr. Franco is also a nationally certified firearm instructor (police and civilian) who specializes in firearm safety, personal protection, and advanced combat shooting
Can anyone tell me who gives "national certifications" like this?
While maintaining an ongoing mission to deliver "the combative truth", Mr. Franco has also authored nine best-selling books...
Yeah. I've spoken to a former student of Franco's who claims to have been one of his top guys. He says Franco taught watered down, light contact MMA. He also says Franco never rolled with any of his students for fear of looking bad. Oh yeah... and define "best selling".
In addition, he holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Criminal Justice from the University of Maryland and is regularly featured as a speaker at a number of professional conferences.
My wife has a BS in criminal justice. I guess since hers is a BS instead of a BA she's even more of a combat expert than Franco. And what professional conferences has he spoken at? My bet? He'll never say.
