Police World Edition 4, 2013

Article

The Defensive Tactics Group committee organised a weekend training seminar at the North Wales Police firing range at Ruthin. The event attracted officers and staff from England, Wales, Sweden and Poland. T he weekend started with a BBQ at the home of the Group Secretary, Rob Stenhouse, so the participants could special training areas that allowed us to pressure test our techniques in unique Defensive Tactics Weekend COPS 2013

as well as martial arts training. At 7:30pm with little rest we moved on to the last session of the evening taken by Martin Cooper, Group Chair and former Lancashire police officer. Martin’s field of interest is the training systems of W.E. Fairbairn. Fairbairn is a very influential figure in the world of close- combat. Day two started with scenarios. After a warm-up and brief session with the Swedish ESDS trainers, we went over to the range to see what Rob and the team had in store. All trainees went through four scenarios designed to test not only fighting skills but the use of dialogue and persuasion to prevent conflict in the first place. Suffice to say the scenarios were very realistic and, surprisingly perhaps, all the more enjoyable for that. The last session was taken by our international patron, Peter Consterdine. Peter is very well- known in the British martial arts scene and has been involved in karate for over forty years and was a consultant for the Police Personal Safety Manual. Peter taught how to generate impact when striking. It was obvious that Peter has spent a lot of time and effort studying the subject and had a wealth of knowledge to impart. And then it was over - what a blast! What a success - phew! Future plans were hatched and discussions turned to when the next event will take place. Watch this space! Keith Sinclare , Vice Chair Defensive Tactics Group

environments; the dynamic and passive skills houses, a bus and a street scene. Rob and the training team arranged four scenarios in the dynamic skills house and set about putting the group through their paces. This turned out to be a highlight of the day as people tested themselves and their resolve. This was enjoyed by all and was, of course, great fun. Saturday was going to be another extensive day packed with seminars and practical lessons. Training started at 9am with another North Wales officer, our Treasurer, Tim Taylor, teaching a very thought provoking lesson on perceptual distortion. We then moved on to a practical lesson of boxing in self-defence situations again delivered by Tim Taylor. As a boxer and boxing coach he has the knowledge and skills to bridge the gap between the 'noble art' and street fighting. After lunch, Richard Dean, a business training specialist, gave a presentation on how to mentally prepare yourself for success. Richard explained how athletes prepare for competition and how we can apply the same principles to our training. Richard then moved onto teaching stress inoculation drills in the street scene. This was another practical lesson involving putting people in situations where they feel uncomfortable before they have to perform self- defence skills. Both insightful and interesting the trainees again threw themselves into the drills with gusto and enthusiasm. The Explosive Self Defence System was a session taught by the system’s creator and the founder of the Swedish IPA-DTG Slavo Godzik. Slavo designed the system with police officers in mind and drew upon his practical experiences

socialise before they began training the next day. This worked out perfectly to break the ice and made everyone feel welcome. The first day of training took place at the nearby University of Chester gymnasium. Thirty-seven trainees arrived for the session on knife awareness. Rob has studied this subject for some time and has combined his experiences of knife crime with the skills taught in personal safety training, self-defence and Ju-jitsu. Rob’s experience allowed him to present a credible defence to being attacked with a knife. Everyone actively trained hard and learnt some valuable lessons. After a light lunch my session began. The subject was the element of surprise - more specifically how to include the element of surprise in training. My programme was based on applying fundamental principles to a wide variety of situations rather than learning specific techniques for specific attacks. The training drills attempted to recreate realistic scenarios and were often very demanding, both physically and mentally. One could say exhausting. Fortunately there was no lack of enthusiasm from the trainees. Slightly weary the group moved location to the Ruthin Range for the final session of day one. Looking like a set from a James Bond movie the range particularly impressed the officers from Poland. It is worth mentioning that these officers are members of the firearms team of an elite police unit and are not easily impressed. The range is a fantastic resource and we are immensely grateful to North Wales police for allowing us to use it. There are a number of

For more information about the Group visit www.ipa-uk.org/ Defensive-Tactics

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Police World Vol 58 No.4 2013