Top martial arts to learn for police training and law enforcement

If you’re a law enforcer then let’s face it, sometimes life can be tough and you can find yourself in sticky situations. In some countries, you’re not allowed to carry weapons either due to law. With this in mind, it can be difficult to subdue an aggressive attacker, especially if they’re bigger and stronger than you are.

To counter this, many in the police turn to learning martial arts. Whilst this is an excellent idea, there is one key issue. This is that some martial arts are arguably too dangerous to be using as a policeman. Especially in positions of power, some things just shouldn’t be done even in self defense as this can result in legal ramifications.

For example, whilst Muay Thai is highly effective, it wouldn’t be wise to knee and elbow a member of the public in combat. Similarly, you couldn’t exactly use an eye gouge learned in Jeet Kune Do either. Because of this, you have to be careful in selecting certain martial arts that will benefit you. Not just for your own personal safety, but also for your career’s sake too.

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is a grappling based martial art that is highly effective. Since its inception, it’s prided itself on restraining bigger opponents by using technique. BJJ is based on ground fighting, which means either working off your back, or fighting on top to try and get a top position such as a pin. In BJJ, there’s also submission. In a legal sense, you would not want to choke someone unconscious as this would cause a huge legal problem. Similarly, even doing something like an armbar would not be advised.

However, you could effectively restrain someone by using a Kimura grip, or by holding a knee on belly position. The beauty of BJJ is is that you can control someone without causing them serious damage. Especially if you get to a dominant top position, you should be quite confident of restraining an attacker.

Stick fighting

Stick fighting includes martial arts such as Eskrima and Kali. These are Filipino martial arts that are based on using sticks to attack and defend. If your police force uses batons, then stick fighting is great to learn. For example, if someone attacks you with a pole, you can use your baton to defend. Similarly, it teaches you how to counter attack with your own sticks, as well as disarm weapons from the hands of your opponents.

Again, this should be learned in moderation. In the wild, you don’t exactly want to strike someone over the head with a stick if it can’t be helped. This means that instead, you should be focusing on your stick defense rather than learning how to kill someone with weapons. In sticky situations when you’re disarmed, learning Eskrima could save your life.

Wrestling and Judo

As you may have guessed by now, grappling martial arts are ideal whilst serving as a law enforcer. The reason for this is that you can restrain someone without hitting them, which is ideal for most people. Whilst BJJ is great, it usually has a big problem of not being able to take people to the ground. Stereotypically, BJJ practitioners lack takedowns, which is where wrestling and Judo come in.

Arguably, wrestling is superior against people that aren’t wearing much clothing. You don’t have to slam people on their head either, you can take people down safely without slams or suplexes. On a similar note, Judo can also trip people and take them down directly into a pin. Remember, you don’t need to use fancy techniques or ones that expose your back either. Another benefit of Judo is that it also teaches some ground game and submissions. This may not be as thorough as in BJJ, but against most untrained people it will still work very well.

Krav Maga

Again, you’ll need to be careful when using your Krav Maga out and about. Just because you know how to rip an eyeball out, it still doesn’t mean that it’s fine to use. In short, Krav Maga is great for law enforcement and was literally designed for military combat. Although it features a number of dirty moves such as groin strikes, it’s also very practical and can be used to gain maximum control without hurting people too.

Here, you’ll learn how to disarm guns, knives, and other weapons. Krav Maga also focuses on elements of grappling, such as mount escapes and how to control arms. In some ways, Krav Maga combines the likes of Kali and BJJ. It also has other elements such as kickboxing, but obviously kicking people in the head may not be ideal as a police officer.

Parkour

Technically, Parkour is not a martial art so you could argue that it doesn’t belong on this list. However, it actually has some great skills that can be applied to the real world, especially as a law enforcer. Basically, Parkour is about jumping over walls, fences and various, urban objects. This is great as a police officer for two reasons.

Firstly, if you’re outnumbered and alone and you get chased by a gang. Not only will it give you awesome cardio to run for days, but you can make a quick escape by jumping over large objects. Secondly, you can also use Parkour to catch people that are trying to escape on foot. By jumping over objects, you’ll be able to catch people and arrest them much easier. Combined with some of the other martial arts listed above, it’s a decent skill to learn.

Is police training good enough?

Police training differs from state to state and country to country. Often though, it follows the same blueprint that uses some questionable techniques. These involve certain holds and moves that may look effective whilst drilling but can lack real life success. Another issue is that these moves are situational and won’t always work. This isn’t bashing police training either. Learning how to fight is only a small part of the job and there’s a multitude of other stuff to learn, so it’s never going to be hugely effective.

This is where learning a martial art comes in handy. These techniques have been used in fighting for years and are pressure tested at the highest levels. So, police training is a solid place to start, but as said it can sometimes be too broad and unrealistic. This is why some law enforcement officers sometimes turn to other martial arts. The good news is that you can sometimes get a monthly discount too at certain places.

Final thoughts

In an ideal world, you’d throw all of these martial arts together and come away with a well rounded skillset. The issue is that it’s impossible to learn all of these, so ultimately it’s up to you to pursue what you want. The good news is that as these are all mainstream, you shouldn’t be hard pressed to find good, local schools and dojos.

Remember, even though some martial arts can kill or seriously injure your opponent, that isn’t the ideal of a law enforcer. Instead, the idea is to shut down a bad situation quickly with as little fuss as possible too. Because of this, stuff like grappling comes in handy, whilst other areas of martial arts are also useful in detaining criminals without doing serious harm. If you want to learn more whilst at home, then check out this excellent Krav Maga book that shows you the basics.