| |
Student Login
|
A hold on criminals: Police officers learn martial arts to defend themselves
By Jennifer Rosinski
Wednesday, May 22, 2002
FRAMINGHAM - Detective Peter Tessicini yesterday lived out one of his greatest fears when a suspect pinned his right arm behind his back yesterday, but the hold that left him powerless didn’t last for long.
The Framingham police officer used martial arts moves to twist himself free and pin his attacker’s right arm behind his back before placing the suspect in handcuffs.
That was just one of several scenarios members of the Defense and Tactics Committee of the World Martial Arts Federation Inc. played out in a training session with the Framingham Police Department.
Mandatory close-quarters defense-tactics training, ordered by Police Chief Steven Carl, began at 9:30 a.m. yesterday at Nick Cerio’s Kenpo studios on Rte. 135 in Framingham and will continue until May 31.
Carl decided to hold the defense tactics series, paid for by the Police Department’s in-service training budget, to ensure his officers can handle themselves when they can’t get to a gun or nightstick.
"Something we always have are our hands," he said. "You want officers to have some basic skills that are simple."
The session was also pitched as a way for the Police Department to beef up preparedness during times of homeland security.
The department has not held training sessions to help officers protect themselves - with their bodies alone - since 1983, police said. That and Carl’s worry the department will lose officers because of the budget crisis are reasons he ordered the training.
"My biggest concern with the budget cuts is there will be less officers on the street. You might be by yourself at any kind of call," Carl said. "When we get there, we find ourselves in the thick of things. We can’t say, ’Don’t attack me until my backup is here.’ "
The 14 officers at the three-hour training session, including Carl, learned four key moves to control unruly suspects and prevent them from attacking officers or grabbing their guns. They also got one-on-one training.
"All these techniques are about safety. They’re about safety for the officers, the possible adversaries and the public," said Framingham resident Craig Seavey, a 9th-degree black belt who owns and instructs at the studios on Waverley Street and Edgell Road.
Former New England Patriots running back Larry Garron, a Framingham resident and internationally recognized martial arts instructor, and 6th-degree black belt James Alty of West Boylston helped Seavey teach the officers.
Seavey said he hopes the officers walk away with at least two strategies they plan to work on and incorporate into their daily routine. He also plans to work with Chief Carl about holding refresher or advanced courses in the future.
The moves are not meant to harm the person the officer hopes to control, a change from the way police officers are typically taught. Chief Carl said when he was in the academy almost 20 years ago, instructors told him to punch and smash anyone who tried to grab his gun or attack him.
"What they taught us were violent, aggressive techniques ... This way there’s no hitting and there’s no striking," he said.
"I don’t want officers to get hurt and I don’t want them to hurt anyone. It’s less of a liability for the Police Department."
Training officers in Framingham to use their bodies is more realistic than teaching them how to handle a gun, Officer Dolores Coots said yesterday during a break from training.
"For us, it’s more hand-to-hand contact than firing a gun," said Coots, who will lead the trainees through a warm-up each morning for the rest of the series. "(Because of that) it’s important to keep our wrists strong."
Detective Tessicini, who got twisted and turned by his "assailant," said he plans to use the moves he learned.
"I can see the value in the training," he said. "After two or three times, it gets easier and you get a little more confident."
Martial arts training isn’t a new thing for Officer Sean Riley, who learned some moves he now uses on the job while working for the Winthrop Police Department and Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department.
"This just gives us the ability to manipulate (a suspect’s) arms and legs to work against them and help us. It’s basically to get in a position of control so we have the upper hand," he said.
"When a person does resist, it’s a split-second thing. Your reaction time has to be instantaneous. To know this adds to the bag of tricks you can use to help you."
|
|
|
|
|