NCJ Number
183569
Journal
Policing Volume: 23 Issue: 2 Dated: 2000 Pages: 132-153
Date Published
2000
Length
22 pages
Annotation
This article analyzes police officers’ satisfaction with their training in defense and control tactics.
Abstract
Approximately 600 officers in the U.S. were asked their opinions about their training in defense and control tactics, their experiences in using those tactics and their interest in alternative techniques and training methods. Most officers agreed that arrest and control tactics are easy to learn and more than half indicated they are easy to remember. Fewer than one-third, however, agreed that they are easy to apply to resistive subjects. Substantially fewer officers felt unarmed defensive tactics are easy to learn, remember, and apply. More than half of the respondents felt their training was inadequate for defense against multiple unarmed assailants. Nearly 60 percent of the officers who reported being a victim of a violent line-of-duty assault felt that their training had failed to adequately prepare them for the attack. There were high levels of interest in in-service training in wrestling, takedowns, punching, kicking, defense against multiple assailants, defense against pepper spray, and gun retention techniques. There were moderate levels of interest in pressure point controls, baton controls, and firearms training and relatively low levels of interest in verbal tactics, locks and holds, pepper spray, and baton strikes. Tables, notes, references, bibliography, appendix