As the public perceives, police
brutality and over-reacting are serious problems. Using Aikido, we
can take intelligent steps to help control these problems. Aikido
philosophy can teach law-enforcement personnel how to be empowered, how
to use their power judiciously, and how to diffuse tough situations.
And, when law-enforcement personnel have been taught these lessons, there
may be a reduction in their over-reacting and in the number of subsequent
lawsuits lodged against police. Through Aikido, we can teach police
new and creative methods for dealing with suspects.
"Various Aikido techniques are very effective
in law enforcement application. In law enforcement the purpose is
control, and most Aikido moves are meant for control. It is a good
art to inject into training."
-Law Enforcement Technology,
January l992 Ed Nowicki, executive
director, American Society of Law Enforcement Trainers
Studying this approach has allowed
me to merge my two passions: Aikido, which I have been teaching since
l978, and my profession in special education, in which I work with teenagers
exhibiting social and emotional problems. I have blended my professional
experiences and my martial arts training to develop an assertive, non-threatening,
but effective approach to dealing with potentially hostile situations.
A federal study has shown that
97% of police contacts with people can be handled verbally. But police
generally are not trained in this area. If police were to learn psychological
and verbal skills, there might be fewer cases of excessive force and fewer
lawsuits.
When a police officer comes
onto a scene, he or she should act so as to prevent a situation from escalating
into a more complex problem. Officers should not catalyze further
problems.
But, unfortunately, many officers
bring past experiences to their street encounters. attitudes and
prejudices, which are often the result of their upbringing, interfere with
their effectiveness and objectivity. For example, some police believe
that physical force and intimidation are their best weapons...an assumption
that probably helps to create more problems than it solves by closing down
lines of communication. So, officers who make this assumption are often
fanning the flames. An officer's psychological and verbal presence
are very important. It is necessary for officers to be prudent and
observant, while still projecting a positive, confident, and non threatening
image.
Aikidoists train to remain calm
in the face of negative energy. Wouldn't such training be useful
to police? Wouldn't it be advantageous for officers to remain cool
when they are being verbally abused? An officer trained in psychological
self-defense wouldn't allow verbal abuse to take center stage and become
the main problem.
Also, a major tenet of Aikido
is that victory over one's self is more important than a victory over others.
This translates into, "If you can't control yourself and your tempter,
why assume that you will be able to control others?" Isn't this an
important lesson for police? When officers deal with potentially
dangerous situations, they must remember to stay calm. If you appear
agitated and hostile, the situation will turn in that direction, and if
they are calm, the situation will tend to calm down. Others will
pick up on the officers' mental state.
In addition, if officers are
calm when dealing with a problem and a suspect still becomes hostile, the
officer has a better chance of responding to the hostility effectively.
Blending with the attack is
a major concept in Aikido. In my dojo, I talk over and over again
about "going with the flow." In blending, one is not acquiescing
to other, but becoming connected to them and to the problem at hand.
The act of blending allows us to see things from other's points of view.
In Aikido, to see things
from others' point of view, we perform a movement called "tenkan", which
means "to turn". Instead of clashing with an aggressive force, Aikidoists
turn and join it, thereby allowing themselves to appreciate what other's
are feeling, thinking and experiencing.
When officers see things from
suspects' points of view, they are not necessarily agreeing with the suspects.
Rather they are trying to emphasize, allowing lines of communication to
expand and thus increasing the likelihood that a conflict can be resolved
with the use of physical force.
During this era of declining
funds and slashed budgets, it is imperative that police department make
best use of their training dollars. Offering law-enforcement personnel
training in the psychological dimensions of Aikido will, I suggest, provide
training in important areas that tend to be over looked.
"Mr. Rackmill conducted
three training sessions for the Simsbury Police Department which were entitled
'Conflict Resolution: Psychological Self Defense'. These sessions
were well received by members of this department for both their content
and presentation. Due to this response, I would recommend this seminar
to other departments and I look forward to working with you in the future."
-Alfred L. Shull Former Chief of Police-Simsbury Police Department
Training in self-defense should
not be limited to the physical domain. The psychological and verbal
training that naturally flows from Aikido should also be a component of
the curriculum for police.
Such psychological training
would have an added benefit for police in that people would experience
less on the job stress if they learned to resolve conflict by blending.