What martial arts does the US police use?

If you’re reading this then you may be curious as to what martial arts the US police force uses. The answer is not straightforward and to cut a long story short, it depends on the locality. It should also be mentioned that policies change quickly and reforms often change the way the police force is trained.

What’s also worth noting is that the US police force isn’t typically trained to fight. Instead, they’re trained to enforce the law. In some states, this means they have more power than others. However, the consensus is that physical force from a police officer should be a last resort for survival, rather than a key part of their curriculum. Thus, when it comes to martial arts – typically police forces aren’t really trained in terms of combat. Having said this… here are a few things to keep in mind.

What martial arts are used by the US police?

Verbal Judo

Although it’s not always explicitly called Verbal Judo by name, Verbal Judo is taught in every police academy across the United States. This is a term used to describe when someone uses words to defuse a situation. Imagine an aggressor is worked up and agitated. The worst thing a police officer could do is make it worse and antagonize them or become physical.

So, the police force are taught to talk calmly and openly which most of the time leads to a peaceful resolution. As the saying goes, ‘The art of war is to not start a war’ and this goes for Verbal Judo. If a police officer can stop violence by either side, then it’s a job done. Technically, this is not a martial art and has nothing to do with literal Judo. Still, it’s a key life skill that can be used in all of life’s scenarios.

Firearms training

Whether firearms training is an actual martial art is debatable. Still, it’s something that everyone can agree on as a skill. This skill needs to be developed and to become as precise and accurate as possible. Imagine an aggressor who is armed and dangerous. As a police officer, you may need to shoot to kill which is why you train for such events.

Ex Navy-SEAL Andy Stumpf actually considers firearms usage as a martial art – and he is also a martial artist in other areas. So, this may not mean improving your physicality or mentality, but it may save lives which is ultimately what police work is all about.

Some police schools offer martial arts tailored towards police work

If you’re a budding police officer who thinks they’ll get free Muay Thai and Sambo classes, then think again. Typically, there are very few classes on offer that offer martial arts, and those that do aren’t specialist. What’s meant by this is that most police martial arts classes have a mixture of skills and techniques from different disciplines.

For example, one week you may go over how to disarm guns, then the next you may go over some pins, then the next some basic blocks from striking. Overall, it’s all very broad and won’t exactly turn you into a fighting champion. Instead, the point is to educate officers and at least give them some knowledge of combat.

Usually, these classes will be part of a curriculum that is taught over several weeks or months. For instance, you may have to complete a course on how to defend yourself. As said, this usually involves throwing lots of different disciplines together and trying to make them stick. Further, lots of police can go into the field and never train again, or have the odd refresher course every year or so.

The point is that these classes are usually very basic and pretty stripped back. Remember, a police officer is often very busy and there’s lots of paperwork and boring stuff to sort out. So, it’s not surprising that teaching them martial arts isn’t really a priority in the big scheme of things.

Is grappling the future of police martial arts?

After the 2020 death of George Floyd, this bought forward many questions about police rights whilst on duty. Here, Floyd was restrained by several officers and choked to death with a knee being held on his artery whilst on the ground. After this, there were calls for nationwide police reform which would also re-educate police officers when it came to public safety.

One of the most commonly proposed methods going forward was that police would be learned to grapple – and to apply it safely. There are several perks for this. Firstly, you could possibly grapple to restrain someone without hurting them. Secondly, this leaves the suspect safe whilst also stopping the police officer from getting in legal trouble.

For example – one move taught in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is to mount the opponent. Here, you could physically control the opponent without hurting them. There are several other positions that have similar consequences. Obviously, this would be a better solution compared to choking someone unconscious.

Whilst chokes are also taught in BJJ, they could be avoided by the police whilst keeping in the less dangerous parts of grappling involved. Of course, this wouldn’t just help suspects out either, it would also keep police safe from attackers if they were sprung into a survival scenario. Mostly, the point is that grappling is suited towards police compared to striking martial arts, which can cause greater physical damage to people on the receiving end.

Do the police need to learn martial arts?

Whether the police need to be further trained in martial arts is up to the individual. However, it’s fair to say that the average cop is not a martial artist, nor do they know much about fighting whatsoever. Arguably, this should change considering the physicality and volatile nature of the job. For instance, the average police officer will get into a couple of physical altercations before retirement which proves the need for some kind of self defense training in place.

In short, you could also argue that the current training isn’t really good enough, or at least should be taught more frequently. This would possibly result in fewer fatalities for the public and police officers whilst on duty. So, that’s not to say that the current system is completely broken, but it is to say there’s still room for improvements.

Conclusion

When looking at the average police officer, they are barely trained in martial arts and those that are, are trained in a mixture of stripped-down disciplines. In other words, if you want to train martial arts as a law enforcer, then you’d have to train in your own personal time. Whilst some training is sometimes taught to cops, it’s mostly a brief introduction and in some cases, this may be forgotten about within months anyway.

Irrespective of personal views, it’s fair to say that most US police officers aren’t really trained in martial arts and the US law doesn’t really require them to for the most part. As mentioned earlier, usually emphasis is given to de-escalation tactics or even the use of weapons before consideration is given to martial arts training.

If you want to look closer at the role of martial arts in law enforcement then check out this book that details the importance of police training martial arts.