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Messages - sgtmac_46

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1
Martial Arts Topics / Re: March 8-10, 2013 DBMA Training Camp
« on: February 22, 2013, 12:51:24 PM »
Alas, I have ran in to a serious roadblock that has made it impossible for me to attend.  My disappointment is beyond words.  I wish everyone the best of luck and hope to train with you all in the future.

Regards

2
Martial Arts Topics / Re: March 8-10, 2013 DBMA Training Camp
« on: January 25, 2013, 01:52:41 PM »
Got signed up for the NC Training and finally signed up for a DBMAA membership......very much looking forward to it...........Hope to this year get more involved instead of poking around on the periphery.

3
Martial Arts Topics / Re: March 8-10, 2013 DBMA Training Camp
« on: January 09, 2013, 09:41:19 PM »
Really excited about this.  Hoping to reserve my spot in a couple of weeks once the funds become available.

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Martial Arts Topics / Re: Evil in Connecticut
« on: January 03, 2013, 12:21:01 PM »
Bad things can happen and occassionally do happen in places that allow their citizens the private possession of arms.........Over the last 40 plus years the US has seen approximately 20 mass shootings a year with an average of 100 deaths.........Each tragic, but also statistical anomalies in a nation of 300+ Million people.

The bad things that can happen and occassionally do happen in places that allow their citizens the private possession of arms, however, are vastly eclipsed by the bad things that seem to happen in places where they are denied arms....

'in the 20th century, approximately 281,361,000 unarmed and helpless men, women and children (roughly the same as the number that might die in a nuclear war) were killed by state and quasi-state regimes and non-state groups.'

http://socialjusticereview.org/articles/the-genocide-in-rwanda-and-the-structural-limitations-of-the-secular-human-rights-movement

'At least 800,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the genocide [mostly with cheap $.50 chinese machetes] at a rate - over just 100 days - that was far faster than the Holocaust of the Jews in World War Two.'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3572887.stm

The argument folks might make is that genocides do not happen as often as mass shootings........But if we take 800,000 as the death rate of an average genocide, one would realize that there would have to be 40,000 mass shootings to equal one Rwanda genocide, or at the rate of mass shootings in the US, 8,000 years worth of mass shootings at the rate they occur here.

And here's the rub.......An armed American society makes such an event very unlikely........Europeans feel secure that their civil governments will protect them.  But in Europe they are facing a massive demographic shift in the next several decades, France has already felt the first tinges of that in recent years, and that will only become worse as their Islamic population reaches critical mass.........'Those who beat their swords in to plowshares often find themselves toiling under the yoke of those who kept their swords.'

http://conservativepapers.com/news/2013/01/01/muslims-burn-about-1200-cars-on-new-years-eve-in-france/

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Martial Arts Topics / Re: Al Sharpton: Next Up, Knife Control
« on: January 02, 2013, 03:45:26 PM »
http://www.inquisitr.com/463526/al-sharpton-knife-control-will-follow-gun-control-legislation-video/

Ah I see you have already posted something, well here is a follow up then.

Al Sharpton: Next Up, Knife Control
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/al-sharpton-next-up-knife-control/

  'Cocaine is a helluva drug' -Al Sharpton (said to undercover agents during a sting)

I'm not worried about pocket knives, i'd be more worried about Al calling me an 'interloper' and sending one of his thugs in to burn my store down with me in it........Seems to be the way he does business.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/celebrity/sharpton-and-rosemond-658234

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,58469,00.html

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Martial Arts Topics / Re: Knife Law
« on: January 02, 2013, 03:35:17 PM »
This is from the NY Times (for which my nickname is Pravda On The Hudson: POTH) so caveat lector:
==============

PHOENIX — Arizona used to be a knife carrier’s nightmare, with a patchwork of local laws that forced those inclined to strap Buck knives or other sharp objects to their belts to tread carefully as they moved from Phoenix (no knives except pocketknives) to Tempe (no knives at all) to Tucson (no knives on library grounds).

D’Alton Holder, a longtime knife maker, said, “It’s ridiculous to talk about the size of the knife as if that makes a difference.”
But that changed earlier this year when Arizona made its Legislature the sole arbiter of knife regulations. And because of loose restrictions on weapons here, Arizona is now considered a knife carrier’s dream, a place where everything from a samurai sword to a switchblade can be carried without a quibble.

Arizona’s transformation, and the recent lifting of a ban on switchblades, stilettos, dirks and daggers in New Hampshire, has given new life to the knife rights lobby, the little-known cousin of the more politically potent gun rights movement. Its vision is a knife-friendly America, where blades are viewed not as ominous but as tools — the equivalent of sharp-edged screw drivers or hammers — that serve useful purposes and can save lives as well as take them.

Sure, knife fights and knife attacks are a concern. No knife-lover would ever deny that. In fact, Todd Rathner, the lobbyist for Knife Rights Inc., an advocacy group based in Arizona that is now in its third year, was mugged twice in New York City before moving to Tucson, once — “ironically,” he said — at knifepoint.

But the problem is with the knife wielder, not the knife itself, the knife lobby says, sounding very much like those who advocate for gun rights.

In fact, knife advocates contend that the Second Amendment applies to knives as well as guns. They focus their argument elsewhere, though, emphasizing that knives fill so many beneficial roles, from carving Thanksgiving turkeys to whittling, that they do not deserve the bad name they often get.

“People talk about how knives are dangerous, and then they go in the kitchen and they have 50 of them,” said D’Alton Holder, a veteran knife maker who lives in Wickenberg, Ariz. “It’s ridiculous to talk about the size of the knife as if that makes a difference. If you carry a machete that’s three feet long, it’s no more dangerous than any knife. You can do just as much damage with an inch-long blade, even a box cutter.”

As for the pocketknife he carries with him every day, Mr. Holder said: “I use it for everything — to clean my fingernails, to prune a tree or carve, even to eat dinner with. I never think about the knives that I carry or the knives that I make as weapons.”

Jennifer Coffey, the New Hampshire state representative who led the effort to overturn the state’s switchblade ban, is also an emergency medical technician who uses knives to extract people from vehicles after accidents. Even when switchblades were outlawed, there were exceptions for emergency workers and others who might use them on the job, but Ms. Coffey still considered the law outrageous.

“We had certain knives that were illegal, but I could walk down the street with a kitchen knife that I used to carve a turkey and that would be legal,” Ms. Coffey said. “I’d be more scared of a kitchen knife than a switchblade.”

She said switchblade bans were passed in the 1950s because of the menacing use of the knives in movies like “West Side Story” and “Rebel Without a Cause.” Her legislation drew the support of an array of knife-related entities: Knife Rights, a young upstart in knife advocacy; the American Knife and Tool Institute, a group based in Wyoming that represents knife manufacturers, sellers and owners; and publications like Blade, Cutlery News Journal and Knife World.

The effort to lift the ban on switchblades in New Hampshire even won the support of the New Hampshire Association of Chiefs of Police.

==========



In Arizona, however, police groups were more circumspect about lifting all of the local knife laws. The Arizona Association of Chiefs of Police opposed the move, saying local jurisdictions ought to set their own knife restrictions. The Phoenix Law Enforcement Association remained neutral.

In much of the country, especially in urban areas, knives are still viewed as weapons in need of tight control.
District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. of Manhattan announced in June that his office had pressured retail stores that were selling illegal knives to remove them from their shelves, forfeit profits from the knives made over the last four years and help finance a campaign to educate people against illegal knives.

“What makes these knives so dangerous is the ease with which they can be concealed and brandished,” Mr. Vance said of the illegal switchblades and gravity knives, which require a wrist flip to open instead of a switchblade’s spring, that were bought by undercover agents.

Mr. Vance’s offensive drew the ire of the American Knife and Tool Institute, which issued an “action alert” and offered to assist New York retailers and individuals charged with knife violations with their legal defenses.

The knife lobby similarly rose up in 2009 when the federal Customs and Border Protection agency issued a proposal that would have reclassified many pocketknives and pocket tools as switchblades and thus made them illegal for import or sale across state lines under the 1958 federal Switchblade Act. In the end, Congress intervened and blocked the change.

A case now unfolding in Seattle shows how volatile knives continue to be. A police officer there fatally shot a man in August after, the officer said, he ordered the man several times to drop a knife that he was carrying. But the legitimacy of the shooting has been questioned by the Police Department, partly because the knife, which had a three-inch blade, was found in a closed position near the body of the dead man, who had been using it to carve a piece of wood.

Knife advocates are hoping that, just as Arizona’s immigration law has led to a national debate on that topic, its move to end knife restrictions will lead more states to take up the cause.

“Arizona is now the model when it comes to knives,” said Mr. Rathner, who was a National Rifle Association lobbyist before he switched to knives. “We’re now going to be moving to other states, probably in the Rocky Mountains and the Southeast. There’s probably half a dozen or more places that are ripe for this.”


  Wow......They haven't taken any guns yet, and they're already fantasizing about knife bans.......Hubris in spades.  The UK has moved on from banning knives to attempting to ban certain martial arts and martial 'artists' considered 'too dangerous' for it's citizens to possess knowledge of..........All this while the streets of Europe are becoming more dangerous as they flood their countries with alien cultures that are fundamentally antagonistic. 

Those who beat their swords into plowshares often find themselves toiling under the yokes of those who kept their swords.

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Martial Arts Topics / Re: Dog Howie: Rest in Peace----RIP
« on: December 31, 2012, 11:55:56 AM »
Wow.......That's very sad news.  I remember meeting Dog Howie at the Bloomberg, IL seminar a couple years back, seemed like a really genuine decent guy.  Puts things in perspective.

10
I would certainly like to thank Guro Crafty for the extraordinary material he presented to us.  Words escape me to define the quality and level of training and material I was exposed to.  You far exceeded my expectations.

And i'd also like to extend thanks to all the good, talented folks I had the opportunity to train with, to include, but not limited to, Terry, who I was very impressed with, and Dog Howie, who I had the opportunity to have a good conversation with while we were waiting for our Thai food (and waiting, and waiting! :-)), and Tobias, who I had already met, and who helped me considerably in understanding and working with the material......and thanks to everyone else I got a chance to meet.

Thanks guys, you're all top notch!

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Martial Arts Topics / Re: Dog (Canine) Training
« on: September 18, 2010, 05:15:01 PM »
Quite off topic, , ,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f309fSTWYo4

That video is a classic!  Just about every GSD or Malinois i've ever owned would attack water just like that.  One Malinois I had made it down right dangerous to have a water hose!  He'd tackle you trying to attack the water!

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Martial Arts Topics / Re: Dog (Canine) Training
« on: September 18, 2010, 10:27:45 AM »
A good example of a dogs confident with biting people.  Notice no threat display barking, simply attack.  These are confident, tough dogs with high fight drive.  Dogs that are barking can be almost always be backed down by not retreating, and standing your ground.  They don't want a fight, it's a threat display.  A truly confident dog that wants to attack doesn't give a threat display.  Never turn your back on a dog.

http://blutube.policeone.com/Media/6230-Cop-hits-attacking-Rottweiler-with-TASER/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd5uvK8TfOA   

Notice the high tail position of the pitbull........very confident while biting a human.  He got wacked once with a club in the head, disengaged momentarily, but once he got over the initial effect of being hit, he went right back to the attack, tail still high even after being wacked.

Another kind of funny one that illustrates the point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nd3677if7PU




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Martial Arts Topics / Re: Dog (Canine) Training
« on: September 18, 2010, 10:18:25 AM »
A word should be mentioned about dog behavior and possible aggression.  Dogs who are barking at you, but not otherwise restrained, are exhibiting a threat display, much like a rattlesnake.  If they were confident enough in the situation to bite they wouldn't be barking.  Truly tough dogs don't bark to get you to run away or back off, they simply attack.  There are few dogs out there like that, but they do exist, and if you ever are confronted by the bad side of one it's something you'll never forget. 

Tail positioning is an important part of reading dog behavior, as well.  Contrary to popular belief, tail up doesn't mean 'friendly'......the tail is more an indicator of confidence in the situation.  If a dog is comfortable it will go with a high tail.  If a dog is uncomfortable or agitated, the tail drops.  If a dog is truly in submissive fear the tail tucks between the legs.  Again, it doesn't necessarily mean the dogs are friendly when the tail is up. 

A dog can be retreating from a fight, and be completely comfortable with that, thus the term 'High tailing it out of here'.  A dog can also be quite comfortable tearing your arm off, and have a high tail the entire time, if it's a truly tough dog who's comfortable biting people.

Body positioning is also a good indicator.  Dogs read body language better than people.  A dominant dog faces other dogs and people head on.  A submissive dog has a more sideways posture.  Most folks have seen one dominant dog T up on another dog, who blades away.  They read this in people which is how they 'smell' fear.  They don't 'smell' it, they see it.

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Martial Arts Topics / Re: Dog (Canine) Training
« on: September 18, 2010, 10:09:42 AM »
The discussion of establishing dominance and stories about it being done has made me think of a story and a question for those who own alpha dogs.

I do a good bit of bicycling.  Dogs bark at me all the time while I am riding.  Usually, I ignore them.  Sometimes, they chase.  If they stop at the edge of their 'turf', I ignore them.  If they chase continually and aggressively, I stop and deal with them.  The one time I did not stop it was the one time I have been bitten since I was about 14.  The dog I ignored while it chased and chased for a block was a little old lady's Yipping Rat Purse Chi-annoyah.  Unfortunately, I had to stop for a car at the intersection.  And it left me a couple of nice holes in my calf.  The lady runs up to me to explain her precious is harmless.  And I have to show her the bite marks.  Luckily, it had its shot tags.  I griped at the lady and then went home.  The lesson is one from Musashi:  Pay Attention, even unto trifles.

Now, the question for owners of dogs who like to be dominant and show it?  This one has come up for me from the other side.  I've had dogs come up and try to establish dominance.  I either ignore them as if they did not exist or turn and back them down. if they continue to try to push it.  I've come close but have never been bit while backing a dog down.  On a handful of occasions, I've been a hair's breadth from giving a dog a defensive cuff or leg check. The problems are not with the dogs but their owners.  I've been threatened by more than one owner with violence if I struck their dog.   And then I have to deal with a person as well as a dog.

So, for owners and trainers of those dominant dogs, has anyone considered how to react to their dog attempting to establish dominance one someone who is not willing to be dominated?  Telling the other human to wait for you to get the dog is like telling a lady to wait for the police if threatened or attacked.  It's the exact same logic.  To be clear, we're discussing something moving beyond wooofing phase and is moving into touch and attack.  

I'm just wondering what other's think?  With the exception of that Yipper that was partially my fault because I was arrogantly dismissive and careless of what looked to be a non-threat, I've rarely have any issues with a dog for more than 5 minutes.  Mostly, dogs of all levels will approach and make friends with me after a few minutes.  But I do remember times from my early twenties when that was not the case.  And being threated with violence and firearms from angry owners of dogs that try to control more than their own yard.  You can take the end of the statement about either the owner or the dog.  *grin*

Any thoughts?
 Actually, some of what you are describing isn’t entirely dominance.  When you’re on a bicycle dogs are operating in prey drive, not rank drive.  It’s rank drive that is the issue with dominance.  

Some dogs have tremendous prey drive, and will chase a moving object, barking and biting.  When dogs confront you barking when you’re near their property, they are exhibiting territorial aggression…….again, not dominance.

A dog that barks and growls when it feels threatened is exhibiting defensive aggression.  Defense, again, is a separate drive and motive.

A dog that is willing to fight and take on a stranger who is being aggressive is exhibiting fight drive, which is a bit of a combination of prey, defense, and overall confidence.

Dominance or rank drive is the desire to challenge other members of the pack for pack position.  Dominant dogs are difficult dogs for owners because they will often challenge the owners.

Dominance isn’t entirely desirable in protection dog, though it can be worked with.   A dog can be a very tough dog, with very good, strong drives, and still not be ‘dominant’.  Likewise a dog can be a little ankle biting wuss and be very dominant.  Of course if you have a TRULY confident strong dog who is also very dominant you have potential problems that require a strong handler.

The issue with all of the above is one of obedience training.  The stronger the drives, the more important the obedience training.   A dog that is properly obedience trained will not bite unless the alpha back member initiates it, or a situation in which it is clear that biting is allowed occurs.  The problem with dominant dogs is that they are harder to obedience train.

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Martial Arts Topics / Re: Corrections and Prison
« on: September 16, 2010, 10:26:16 AM »
I give props to corrections officers, it's a job I wouldn't want.  I like the ability to get in a patrol car and drive away after dealing with dirtbags.  To be locked up with hundreds of them for an entire shift every day is something that would seem claustrophobic on a number of different levels.  It's a difficult job those guys do.

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Martial Arts Topics / Re: Door Work, Bouncing, Bodyguarding
« on: September 16, 2010, 10:18:14 AM »
Sgt Mac:

I remember reading about that study at the time.

A variation of your tag line:

"Speak softly, and carry a big stick"  :-D

Indeed!

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Martial Arts Topics / Re: Door Work, Bouncing, Bodyguarding
« on: September 13, 2010, 11:10:50 AM »
There was an interesting study done by the FBI several years back on LEO's killed in the line of duty, trying to identify character traits that were correlated with those deaths.  They showed some interesting things.

Victim officers tended to be veteran officers with an average of 5 years on the job
Victim officers tended to have a service orientation over enforcement orientation
Victim officers tended to rely on their ability to talk their way out of situations
Victim officers tended to use less force than fellow officers claim they would have in similar situations
Victim officers tended to use force later than fellow officers said they would have in similar situations

http://www.poam.net/main/train-educate/traits-that-gets-cops-killed.html
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2194/is_n7_v63/ai_15658025/

The ability to verbally deescalate is a crucial skill.......but the over reliance on it can be fatal. 

Talk nice, think mean.

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Martial Arts Topics / Re: Dog (Canine) Training
« on: September 13, 2010, 10:37:14 AM »
At 10 months (about 90 pounds) I was till taking my second Akita to the dog park.  One day an Irish Wolfhound (about 170, think large hairy Great Dane) that had bullied him when he was 6 months old (about 70 pounds) came in.  Naturally my boy remembered him and his body language told me he was going to settle accounts.  I gave him the stop command but he ignored me.  The fight was over very quickly.  He knocked the Irish Wolfhound across the entire park for about ten seconds with the IW just totally folding mentally.  Finally I caught up to him and grabbed him as the IW ran off.  I picked up up by the scruff of the neck and the loose skin at the base of the tail and carried him across the length of the park and out the gate.  We were clear between each other thereafter.

OTOH my first Akita, Zapata, the one in our logo, was a VERY dominant Akita.  Instead of trying me he dominated a couple of formidable men; one who had gotten on his excrement list by raising his voice to me and then on another occasion violating the dog's personal space (Z. pinned him to the wall by the testicles) and the other a bodybuilder on steroids.  I'm guessing Zapata took the smell of the testosterone to be a challenge so he rose up and put his paws on the guy's shoulders (he was about 5 foot 6 inch and very thick) rumbled in his face and humped him twice--not in a neurotic poodle way, but in a prison way so as to establish dominance.
  :-D

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Martial Arts Topics / Re: Dog (Canine) Training
« on: September 13, 2010, 10:28:45 AM »
Some dogs are naturally dominant, and will test authority.  In those circumstances it is necessary to establish alpha dominancy in a manner similar to the way wolves establish pack order.  They don't get the seat of power growing up as puppies (the couch, the chair, etc) they don't get to sleep in the alphas bed, etc.  

What i've seen is that folks reinforce dominance traits in dominance dogs as they are growing up, and then when the dog gets to the age of genetic maturity, and the natural hormones that compel such things kick in, they've already established in their own minds that the 'master' is weak-willed, and attempt to exploit that opening........if folks have created that problem, the only answer is to establish dominance negatively........which is what Alpha wolves do with those that challenge their authority in the pack structure........or lose their place in the pack structure.

My experience has been with working GSD's and Malinois, however.  

I remember reading an article somewhere criticising a lot of the wolf pack theory in dog training. Bottom line being that the dog is a very different creature to a wolf and that a lot of these theories about wolf pack dynamics were based on wolf packs cooped up in zoo's which is about as natural an environment as all the forum members here living in a single room.  :-o. I've no idea if the criticisms were accurate but it made sense to me that we should not base our interaction's with dogs on theories that revolve around a creature that most of us have never dealt with..i.e the wolf.


It's quite clear that dogs are pack animals.  A lot of those criticism are more about splitting hairs than any real issue.  Alot of it comes down to some ulterior motives on the part of folks making some of those arguments when it comes to dog training.

Humans have selected certain traits in dogs that make them more manageable for our purposes, but those traits aren't newly created traits, merely modified wolf traits.

The bottom line is that what works with dogs works, and no amount of debate over the reason why it works alters that.

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Martial Arts Topics / Re: Door Work, Bouncing, Bodyguarding
« on: September 12, 2010, 01:44:05 PM »
Not dissing the Security Guy, but I've read/heard that Doormen/Bouncers say if their soft skills have not deescalated the situation and that they have to resort to hard skills then they didn't perform their duties well. Or maybe it was something Dalton/Patrick Swayze said in Road House lol


SG, would you please post this on the DBMAA forum too?

Done.



Can't comment on bouncing work, but I can apply 14 years of LEO experience.  Verbal de-escalation works 98% of the time, if properly applied.  That still leaves 2% of the time that the universe has just determined that there WILL be a fight no matter how smoothed tongued you are.

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Martial Arts Topics / Re: Dog (Canine) Training
« on: September 12, 2010, 01:29:10 PM »
Some dogs are naturally dominant, and will test authority.  In those circumstances it is necessary to establish alpha dominancy in a manner similar to the way wolves establish pack order.  They don't get the seat of power growing up as puppies (the couch, the chair, etc) they don't get to sleep in the alphas bed, etc.  

What i've seen is that folks reinforce dominance traits in dominance dogs as they are growing up, and then when the dog gets to the age of genetic maturity, and the natural hormones that compel such things kick in, they've already established in their own minds that the 'master' is weak-willed, and attempt to exploit that opening........if folks have created that problem, the only answer is to establish dominance negatively........which is what Alpha wolves do with those that challenge their authority in the pack structure........or lose their place in the pack structure.

My experience has been with working GSD's and Malinois, however. 

22
Martial Arts Topics / Re: Law Enforcement issues
« on: August 15, 2010, 10:03:44 AM »
In my departmental training and policies i've attempted to incorporate this concept of bi-lateralism in to our defensive tactics training.  With the Taser we now train officers to draw and deploy the Taser with their non-dominate hand, which we feel will not only reduce the likelihood of weapon confusion like what happened with the BART shooting, but will actually aid in transitioning up and down the force spectrum under pressure.  I found it humorously interesting to note in our last Taser inservice training how, when I put officers in a position of drawing their Tasers under stress and time constraint, they realized that the task was much more difficulty than they first realized.  They also increasingly realized how often a serious confrontation would end up being a Tactics issue that needed to be resolved with empty hand responses before a weapon could even be brought to bare.

DLO 1,2 and 3 were real eye openers to a lot of officers when they had a chance to watch them.  Thanks to Marc Denny and Gabe Suarez for everything you guys have been doing.  It's filtering out some top notch stuff.  I look forward to bringing a group to Bloomington, IL. in October.

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I have had a few people contact me in the last few days to advise that they missed the July 15th deadline for the early seminar price of $175.00 for the general public.

To be fair to all I have decided to extend the early deadline to September 1st.

Woof!

Terry


You are the man!  I'll definitely be getting my reservation in before September 1st.

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Martial Arts Topics / Re: Karambit Vs. straight blades
« on: July 05, 2008, 02:08:35 AM »
Sgt.,

A few questions:

1. Does your dept. allow for a fixed blade to be worn on your duty belt? I can imagine the fainting spells those with brass on their collars might have at the sight.

2. You have a retention holster, do you have a retention sheath for the kerambit? The more stuff you wear, the more an opponent has to grab onto in close quarters. Just as it sucks to gets shot with your own gun, getting cut by one's own edged weapon would have to suck too.

3. Why the kerambit vs. other blade designs? http://www.hideawayknife.com/main.php  or http://www.lapolicegear.com/kabarknives.html
  All very good questions.

1. I'm the training officer and I more or less have a strong influence on policy.   Ultimately a less 'radical' but similar design, like the TDI may be the actual choice.

2. I don't have a particular design in mind, i'm still at the very infancy of experimenting with the concept.  However, I envision wearing the knife on the inside of the belt behind my Taser X26 where I can reach the ring from above but it can't even be seen from the front.  Of course the weapon retention tactic for the knife is the same for the Taser....draw duty weapon and fire at close range until the threat ceases.

3. The Karambit or other similar forward swept blade design that simulates the 'ripping' action of a talon....because I want to insure that the cut on the forearms or bicep are suitably deep enough to damage the use of the hands.  The TDI is another blade design i'm looking at as well because it has the same forward swept shape.

25
Martial Arts Topics / Re: Karambit Vs. straight blades
« on: July 04, 2008, 04:17:57 AM »
My question has to do with the opinion of those experienced with Karambit work on the adviseability of carrying a Karambit by law enforcement in retraining the firearm in a gun takeaway situation.

Well made arguments have been that the Karambit is a limited use weapon.  In the context i'm wishing to discuss it, however, that limited role becomes it's primary role, specifically as a supplement to the firearm and an aid in it's retention.

Allow me to present the scenario as i'm working on it right now.....a fixed-blade karambit in the style of the Emerson fixed blade carried on the belt on the support side.  In the event of a gun takeaway attempt, the Karambit would be drawn and used to cut the attacker off of the grab attempt by slicing tendons, nerves and muscles of the attackers arms while the dominant hand maintains strong grip on the gun in combination with an effective retention holster.

As such the reach and versatility of other knife designs are not a real issue of advantage here.  The attacker has placed himself in extreme close proximity, grappling range so to speak.  He has also extended his arms in order to reach the officers sidearm.

What is at the core of my thinking in view of the Karambit is it's ability to dig under and sever nerves, muscles and tendons.  Deep penetration of organs is not an issue in the above scenario as i've seen men on the street who have been stabbed in the liver and lungs continue to be able to struggle at full power for up to a minute or more.  My goal in the above situation is to immediately destroy the underlying structure of the attackers arms by attacking directly the nerves, muscles and tendons, thereby immediately destroying his ability to remove the firearm from the officers holster by taking away the voluntary use of his hands.  In the above scenario I do not want to have to rely on blood loss and vital organ damage during a prolonged struggle to end the attackers threat.

Any suggestions toward this?  Is this realistic?  Is this supported by current Karambit training?

I'd be very interested in hearing what Crafty and others think about this concept to aid in firearm weapon retention, vis-a-vis law enforcement defensive tactics.  In addition if anyone is familiar with an already existing training program addressing that exact concept I would be most grateful to be pointed in the right direction.

26
Martial Arts Topics / Re: A Father's Question
« on: September 14, 2007, 06:27:44 PM »
Woof All:

One practical suggestion that I have received is to cite the statutory declarations in CA of the right to self-defense.  In other words, the school's declared policy is a violation of state law-- or so my lawyers will say when we sue to school should it ever fcuk with my son's right of self-defense.

Now I mull over whether and if so how to bring this to the school's attention.

TAC!
CD
Good for you Crafty! The Nanny-State BS of trying to turn our children in to sheeple has to stop.  Imagine the audacity of declaring that self-defense is not a basic human right and is not an acceptable reason to fight.  In other words, the only civilized response to violence is to be a victim of it.

Or course, the reality is that this is a mentality that the Nanny-Staters wish to foster on society as a whole, and of course if you want to change a society, go after the children.  This is the mentality that have in store for the rest of us, and would codify it as law if possible....ironically, in America at least, our state legislatures are passing laws in the opposite direction.

Here's the logical outcome of creating a set of rules and laws that do not recognize lawful self-defense.....criminal thugs in schools have little fear of being expelled....who is punished are those students who want to be at school, who want to learn, but refuse to be victims of bullying and thuggery.  The 'punish everyone equally' zero-tolerance policies of schools is asinine in the extreme.

It's about time we started demanding that our schools act as smaller microcosms of our larger society, including embracing the rules we set for ourselves, including recognizing the basic fundamental human right of self-defense....and it is most definitely is a human right (at least in America).  It seems, however, schools are embracing the European model that says we have no fundamental right to self-defense, and all students are mere subjects of the state.

27
Martial Arts Topics / Re: MMA Thread
« on: September 09, 2007, 08:44:08 PM »
Cro-Cop came to the UFC because he never could best Fedor...if he can't make something happen in the UFC, i'd say he'll probably be leaving the fight game.

28
Martial Arts Topics / Re: What Styles do you Blend into your Kali?
« on: September 09, 2007, 08:41:04 PM »
I train Boxing/Muay Thai with my Kali striking, and then I throw in BJJ and Judo in for grappling.

29
Martial Arts Topics / Re: Knives for good
« on: August 31, 2007, 06:03:05 PM »
I think you misunderstand me, I didnt say they shouldn't, my point was a liability issue.
I think most people doing hat we do, especially those of us on the end of the spectrum we inhabit, really hitting each other, are of the same mentality as the gentleman with the sword. I have aided people in the past i have believed to be in need of assistance, none of these were policemen.
I can see why law enforcement say the things the way they do as in this case. I don't really believe the sword wielder just managed to walk away without anyone knowing who he was either.

I don't see it as an issue of liability....there is no liability on the part of the police in saying that they aren't pursuing charges against this gentlemen.  The issue is the view held by UK police on citizens in general.....the belief that citizens have no real claim to using lawful violence.




30
Martial Arts Topics / Re: Knives for good
« on: August 31, 2007, 05:58:32 PM »
I disagree completely.  In my opinion, the police and press should be praising this hero.
That's the UK for you.....they have all but abolished the idea of self-defense, defense of others, and most definitely, defense of property has being a legitimate right.

European nations in general believe that governments have the sole monopoly on legitimate violence.....it's one thing that seperates them from US.



Contrast that with the trend in many American states of passing enhanced Castle Doctrine laws that, among other things


Remove statutory obligations to retreat from intruders in the home before using lawful lethal force.

Remove statutory obligations to retreat from criminals in certain places (varying from state to state) but typically in your car or business, and in some states, ANY place you have a legal right to be.

Granting the assumption that if someone has entered your home illegal and/or to commit a crime, that you are justified in using lethal force based on that entry.

Granting broad civil immunity where it was determined that force was used lawfully, also mandating that in the event of a lawsuit, plantiff is required to pay all court costs, defense costs, and expenses to defendant.


My state of Missouri just passed such a law that officially went in to effect on August 28, 2007.


31
Martial Arts Topics / Re: Crimes using knives
« on: August 31, 2007, 05:55:47 PM »
FYI, it's been a little while since our last shooting, but stabbings seem to be increasing around here.  I don't think I arrest to many felons and parolees who don't have at least a 3" or 4" inch folding blade in their pocket.  You get caught with a gun, you go to prison.....but you can carry a knife around most places in Missouri without so much as a sideways glance.

If folks are training in self-defense, but not training for the knife, they are making a mistake.

32
Martial Arts Topics / Re: Crimes using knives
« on: August 31, 2007, 05:49:22 PM »
If I'm treating a pneumothorax I'd want to get some sort of non-permeable membrane (meaning a piece of plastic or similar) over the injury. I'd hope emergent care is available and keep the vic on his back so I can monitor vitals and perform CPR as needed. So much bleeding is described that I'd have to suspect a hemothorax, which basically leaves you SOL in the field as you got to get at the bleeder to do anything, and that's well beyond my skill level.

This assumes it's some sort of thoractic injury, which isn't clear from the post. Whether the dude is bleeding out, into his thoractic cavity, or into his abdomen, sealing the hole, treating for shock, and getting the vic to an ER is the way I'd play it.
His medical issue was less the puncturing of the lung (which was a small puncture from the very end of the knife), but the now nearly bi-sected liver.  The knife actually penetrated his liver first, before passing entirely through his liver, and through his diaphraghm in to his lung, single blow from the knife.

It was clear from looking at the single stab wound that he was stabbed through the liver, and I knew this kid was in serious trouble, and the massive internal bleeding from the liver trauma was what nearly killed him.  My immediate response was to elevate the legs and the lower body, to try and get some blood available for circulation....all other things were secondary consideration for him at that point.

I remember him saying to me that he was going to die.....and I told him like hell he was!

At this point we were on the second floor, and had a flight of stairs to haul him down.  We all loaded him and hauled him to the ambulance, where they began pushing massive amounts of fluids.

33
Martial Arts Topics / Re: Crimes using knives
« on: August 27, 2007, 11:04:32 PM »
Last year I worked a stabbing that took place after a bar fight involving multiple subjects.

The bar fight itself did not involve any weapons, but did involve several people. The actual stabbing took place after the fight while one of the participants was walking away from the bar.  He was about two blocks away, when one of his opponents in the bar fight, who shadowed him after he left the bar, snuck up behind him and stabbed him in the right upper torso, penetrating his liver, diaphraghm, and puncturing his lung.

The suspect said something to the victim as he was doing this, and the victim reached over, pulled the knife out (the suspect still had ahold of it) and then took off running without ever even looking back at his assailant.

He ran approximately 100 yards, and up a flight of stairs to an apartment building, where he collapsed from internal bleeding.  When I got there less than 5 minutes later, he was nearly bled out and was death white.  I had his buddies lift his legs, because it was obvious his blood pressure was falling, and we needed to get his blood pressure up somehow.

The ambulance arrived, pushed fluids once they got a vein (they had nearly collapsed) and got him in to emergency surgery.  He survived and was released from the hospital less than week later......though another two or three minutes in that hallway and he'd have been dead.

The moral of the story.......don't get so drunk you aren't aware of your surroundings or if someone is sneaking up on you from behind.

34
Martial Arts Topics / Re: When the Excrement hits the Fan
« on: August 19, 2007, 08:15:51 PM »
It's the time of year to update the COMWEC kit.

35
Martial Arts Topics / Re: Can someone tell me if these look real to you
« on: August 19, 2007, 08:06:50 PM »
They look like the Kamagong sticks I got from KIL.....but that's just looks from a picture, beyond that I couldn't tell you.

36
Anyone in or around the Missouri area?

37
Martial Arts Topics / Mid-West FMA training/seminars
« on: July 31, 2007, 08:03:51 PM »
I'm a police officer from central Missouri and I've been developing a real interest in FMA, but I have not had any formal training and would love to attend whatever training or seminars are available in my area. 

Last year Crafy put on a Seminar in Oklahoma, but because of a previous committment I was unable to attend.  I was hoping Crafty was going to be returning to Oklahoma this fall, but it doesn't appear to be on his schedule.

Is anyone aware of any schools hosting seminars or schools that teach any aspects of FMA within, say, the states surrounding Missouri?  I certainly don't mind a 4 or 5 hour drive to train for two days.

Any information on seminars or classes would be GREATLY appreciated by this eager novice.  I've been doing as much as I can in my garage and backyard with FMA DVD's like those produced by DBMA, but i'm really in need of some first person instruction.


38
My understanding is that membership in the exclusive group 'the Dog Brothers' is by invitation only.....but i'm sure you can join the DBMA on the website for ongoing online training. ;)

39
Martial Arts Topics / Re: What would you have done?
« on: April 21, 2007, 06:37:59 PM »
I read the article and thread but the video won't work with my firefox, so I'm guessing on a few variables.

As a bouncer (which I was for a few years), I would have probably come behind and held in the guy's elbows firmly enough to get his attention yet softly enough that he doesn't react as if he's being ambushed. 

Then, called into his hears something along the lines of "hey buddy, chill out.  You just hit a woman and you are being recorded on camera.  Easy, easy, come on, come on bro, take a breath... etc."

Here's why.

I don't think I can subdue him safely and reliably, though a fast, hard, rear-naked has worked for me in the past.  As said, if I know he's a cop and may be armed, then I'm hoping there is less risk in this approach than in going for the choke.

The message is in that form for several reasons.  Call him friend, use the phrases "hit a woman" and "on camera" to surprise him (if possible) and get past his mental guard and get him thinking, if possible.

Then, easy, easy, calm down, take a breath, etc., to get him thinknig of something non-tactical.  Hopefully, he'll chill.

No force-on-force, physically or psychologically, with this guy in this case.

This is my best guess on a tough situation.

As a patron, I would have probably just cleared people out of the way as best I could, opening a space around the moron, and fished out the injured woman as best I could.
Good advice.

40
Martial Arts Topics / Re: Die Less Often 2 trailer-- ruff edit
« on: April 20, 2007, 09:15:42 AM »
Looks good....can't wait.  The first one was excellent, and this looks like even more of the same.

41
Martial Arts Topics / Re: What would you have done?
« on: April 08, 2007, 08:30:30 PM »
thanks for your reply.
i guess my mind set to wandering about a more generalized scenario where the aggressor's background is unknown (perhaps LEO, perhaps not). perhaps there is a blade in evidence? or some other non-edged weapon?
if ya got to do something and have a group of random strangers around you who can potentially help. what do you say? how much time do you spend having to explain what you need instead of intervening in the situation?...etc, etc.
it seems that a group could become a hazard, to themselves and you, but also, perhaps, necessary to stopping a larger, motivated attacker.
having some ideas of what to do to trigger the 'help now' response in a group and get them to act together would be a nice skill to have.


Examine flight 93 as an example...how long did it take to organize a response, and how was that response initiated. 

42
Martial Arts Topics / Re: What would you have done?
« on: April 08, 2007, 05:56:42 PM »
if someone with training had been present at this event, and if it is true that group apathy can be counteracted by " calling out an individual" within the rest of the bystanders..... would it have been a good idea to enlist help to subdue the attacker as a group (strength in numbers), or not?
if this man was known to be a LEO and potentially armed, how does one decide whether to act alone or with others?

Of course. 

As for dealing with a potentially armed intoxicated LEO, you deal with him like you would any other criminal who is armed....subdue him, by whatever reasonable means necessary, and contact the lawful authorities once he's subdued, making sure that all witnesses to what really happen are identified and documented.

The real world isn't 'The Shield'.  He's very unlikely to shoot you, even if he is armed, knowing that being in possession of his firearm, and discharging it in a bar fight, isn't defensible.  I'm not saying count on him not shooting, just pointing out the reality is that an LEO isn't likely to bring his firearm to bear in an intoxicated state.  A fist fight?  Maybe.  A gun fight?  Not likely.

43
Martial Arts Topics / Re: Knife vs. Gun
« on: April 08, 2007, 05:54:13 PM »
"I was in fear of my life and used what force I had to".  I don't get it. 
In CA if you didn't "see the knife out of his pocket in his hand"
and he is merely "running up to you like a madman" and you shoot him,
he may be dead, but you will go to prison with his friends for maybe 20+.
That's not self defense; that's murder.  Actually, if you don't see the drawn knife and
you draw your gun you probably have committed a crime by displaying excess force.

And if you shoot him, well as I said, you are the one doing time and his
family will collect your house and other assets.  As a side note, it is legal
to carry a folded folding knife nearly anywhere in CA; by definition therefore there is
no "perceived lethal threat"; are we to assume in this scenario that the other other guy (you)
has a CCW permit, something very difficult to obtain in CA? 

If not, let me get this straight; you are going to shoot someone with an illegal
weapon who is committing no crime other than waving his arms and making a fist
and "running up to you like a madman" who may have a folding knife that you
have not seen open?  Unless they find his body with an open knife, as I said, maybe 20+.

I think stealth is one of the advantages of the knife; it can be hidden and given the scenario and
most scenario's the gun is exposed.  In reality the average man with the gun needs to think twice
before he draws and shoots.  We are not in Iraq, nor in most instances are we law enforcement. 
Therefore, a decisions needs to be made; is lethal force justified and later will it be
justified before twelve?  Tough to do in CA.  Yes, I know, "better to judged by twelve, than..." but
prison is not a great place to spend my remaining years either. 
james
California is it's own place.  Elsewhere in the 'less civilized' United States, states are passing enhanced castle doctrine laws that protect law abiding citizens from over-zealous prosecutors and civil trial lawyers seeking to make a buck off the death or injury of a career criminal by law abiding citizens.

44
Martial Arts Topics / Re: Law Enforcement issues
« on: April 05, 2007, 02:07:42 PM »
The Force Science News is provided by The Force Science Research Center, a
non-profit institution based at Minnesota State University, Mankato.
Subscriptions are free and sent via e-mail. To register for your free,
direct-delivery subscription, please visit www.forcesciencenews.com and
click on the registration button. For reprint clearance, please e-mail:
info@forcesciencenews.com.
=======================================

In this issue:

I. IS EXCITED DELIRIUM A FAKE CONDITION INVENTED TO WHITEWASH ABUSIVE FORCE?
A CRITICAL LOOK AT NPR'S RECENT REPORTS

II. WHERE TO FIND OUT MORE--IN PERSON--ABOUT HOW FSRC'S UNIQUE RESEARCH CAN
HELP YOU SURVIVE ON THE STREET & IN COURT

III. KICKIN' ASS! DR. BILL LEWINSKI ACHIEVES A COVETED 5TH DEGREE BLACK BELT

=======================================

I. IS EXCITED DELIRIUM A FAKE CONDITION INVENTED TO WHITEWASH ABUSIVE FORCE?
A CRITICAL LOOK AT NPR'S RECENT REPORTS

Two perspectives on law enforcement's role in the violent human meltdown
known as excited delirium faced off on National Public Radio recently, in
broadcasts that have themselves become controversial.

On one side in the 2-program report were 2 police critics, a staff lawyer
with the ACLU and the director of a California "watchdog" group called
PoliceWatch. The lawyer denied that ED is a recognized condition and charged
that police are using the term "as a means of whitewashing" excessive force
and "inappropriate use of control techniques" during arrests. The watchdog
rep claimed that law enforcers want to blame "victims" who are
inappropriately "dying at the hands of officers." She said police have a
responsibility to "make sure" that anyone they take into custody "stays
alive, whatever the condition of the person's brain or body temperature or
their agitated state."

Voices on the other side included a neurology professor from the University
of Miami, the former chief medical examiner for San Antonio, and a senior
corporal from Dallas PD with first-hand experience in trying to control
raging ED subjects. The professor said the condition is "definitely
real...the result of a neurochemical imbalance in the brain." The ME said,
"[T]hese people are dying of an overdose of adrenaline" and insisted that
it's wrong to blame the police. And the cop said, "There's no one thing that
simply describes this. One minute a person is fighting and screaming, the
next minute he's dead."

By the time NPR finished its total of less than 13 minutes of air time on
the subject, emails were flying among followers of the ED issue. One
authority, Chris Lawrence, a Canadian police college instructor, a technical
advisor to the Force Science Research Center at Minnesota State
University-Mankato, and a columnist for PoliceOne.com, perhaps sums up the
sentiment of many.

NPR's failure to spotlight this thorny topic in depth for its 26 million
listeners, he believes, served only to "stir the pot" of controversy without
illuminating its many perplexities. "No one in the media presents an
in-depth, knowledgeable discussion of this subject even for an hour,"
Lawrence told Force Science News. "A series of sound bites can't do it
justice. It's too complicated. People are left with the impression that no
one knows what's going on, and that's not to anyone's benefit."

If you missed the NPR programs, which aired on more than 800 stations on
2/26 and 2/27, you can read transcripts and listen to the broadcasts at
www.npr.org. Just conduct an in-site search for "excited delirium" and
you'll get to the appropriate links.

Meanwhile, FSN asked Lawrence, who was not involved in NPR's programming, to
address and expand on some of the more provocative highlights of what was
broadcast.

ASSERTION: In questioning ED as a legitimate phenomenon, rather than
something the police are just making up, the ACLU attorney, Eric Balaban,
said, "I know of no reputable medical organization-certainly not the
American Medical Association or the American Psychiatric Association-that
recognizes excited delirium as a medical or mental-health condition."

NPR's reporter Laura Sullivan added: "He's right. Excited delirium is not
recognized by professional medical associations, and you won't find it
listed in the chief psychiatric reference book. The International
Association of Chiefs of Police hasn't accepted it either, saying not enough
information is known."

RESPONSE: Descriptions of the symptoms that characterize ED have appeared in
medical literature under various names, including Bell's Mania and fatal
catatonia, for more than a century, Lawrence says. "Excited delirium" is
fairly recent terminology, "but it is not a problem that is new."

The literature search that was made when the Psychiatric Assn. compiled its
latest edition of the 980-page Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental
Disorders (DSM-IV TR, "the chief psychiatric reference book" cited on NPR)
was cut off in 1996, Lawrence says--more than a decade ago.

"If you do an online search today at the website PubMed, provided by the
National Library of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, you'll
find at least 20 articles on ED from professional medical journals," the
vast majority of which were published after the DSM cut-off.

"For the last 10 years, the National Association of Medical Examiners has
said ED is real and has recognized it as a problem. They've published a
position paper that repeatedly references it in the context of cocaine abuse
and, in some cases, the failure of mental patients to take prescribed
psychotropic drugs. This is not something we're making up. Saying it doesn't
exist doesn't contribute to solutions for dealing with it."

[For more details of ED in medical literature, see archives of Lawrence's
columns at www.policeone.com. The NAME position paper was authored by 4 MDs
and a PhD and appeared in The American Journal of Forensic Medicine and
Pathology, Mar. 2004.]

ASSERTION: By blaming ED, authorities in effect "want the victim to be
looked at as the cause of his or her own death," PoliceWatch director Dawn
Edwards charged on NPR. "The bottom line is that these people are dying at
the hands of, or in the custody of, police officers." In her view, it's a
police responsibility to assure that anyone taken into custody "stays alive."

RESPONSE: During one of the broadcasts, the former ME, Dr. Vincent Di Maio,
who has written a textbook on ED, challenged Edwards' position. Civil
liberties groups are wrong in blaming officers for ED deaths, he said. "They
buy into this mode that if somebody dies, somebody's got to be responsible.
And of course it can't be the person who's high on coke and meth," even
though drug abuse appears to be closely associated with many ED episodes.

Lawrence points out that deaths ascribed to ED have occurred even in
hospitals with the most sophisticated medical intervention immediately at
hand. To expect guaranteed life preservation from officers attempting to
deal with an out-of-control offender on the street is wholly unrealistic.

Professionals knowledgeable about ED agree that it needs to be viewed
ultimately as a medical problem, he says. "But this condition is a very
complicated event. It involves multiple body mechanisms. The breakdown of
any one of these by itself could result in death. Even the efforts of a
highly trained physician may not prevent the subject from dying.

"By the time police are called, the ED subject may be deep into mental and
physical distress, possibly at an irreversible intensity. We're dispatching
a first responder who generally has a first aid certificate. He may never
have seen ED before or even recognize what it is. And we're supposed to say,
'Now you handle this very complicated event, with your first-aid skills, and
by the way, we're going to hold you solely responsible if he dies'? How
realistic is that?"

By pointing out certain factors, such as drug usage and mental illness, that
seem commonly associated with ED episodes, Lawrence says, "we're not trying
to blame the 'victim.' We are trying to better understand the person
experiencing excited delirium and to identify things about him that may
assist everyone in helping him to survive."

ASSERTION: NPR's Sullivan stated during the second program that the debate
about ED "becomes more complicated" because TASERs are often involved when
officers try to control physically violent subjects who end up dying. "Civil
liberties groups fear that the diagnosis is being used" not only to "cover
up police abuse" but also to "protect companies like Taser International
from lawsuits," she said. "Taser may have financial reasons to support-and
even encourage-the use of the excited delirium diagnosis."

RESPONSE: In the view of Lawrence, a DT instructor, the deployment of TASERs
is not so diabolical. "Electronic control devices provide a modern, prompt,
humane method of restraint" in many ED situations, he says. "Physical force
and technology that depend on pain compliance tend not to work because these
subjects don't seem to feel pain. Mechanical leverage techniques that lock
up the joints can be difficult to apply because ED people are very, very
strong and they won't let you do it.

"With an ECD, you can cause them to lose control of the muscles that
maintain balance, and they fall down. This can provide a very brief window
of opportunity to quickly get them handcuffed and to secure their legs with
a strap device to minimize kicking and effectively establish some control.
You end up with fewer injuries both to the suspect and to the officers
involved."

The TASER is just the latest scapegoat blamed for causing ED deaths,
Lawrence says. He cites the recent testimony of Dr. Christine Hall, a
Canadian ER physician and ED researcher, at a coroner's inquest into the
death of a psychiatric patient who was TASERed while in a highly agitated
state.

Hall testified that when people in this state died while being restrained by
the police in the 1970s, the blame was often placed on baton use. In the
1980s, it was multiple-officer restraint and "positional asphyxia." In the
1990s, it was pepper spray. Now it's the TASER.

"The blame shifts as tactics and technology change and police critics
continue to look for something other than the condition itself as the cause
of death," Lawrence says.

Whatever the mode, the goal of police intervention, he stresses, is to
control dangerous behavior, to get ED subjects "assessed by someone with
more medical training than a police officer has, and to get him transported
to a place of sophisticated medical treatment. You are not going to get any
medical assistance until control has been established. There's no way around
this point.

"Even if you could drive a doctor to the scene and say, 'You manage this,'
nothing could be done until the subject is stabilized, and stabilization
requires restraint. At some point someone has to take control of the
individual, unless he somehow gets back to reality on his own and says, 'I'm
going to let you help me,' and that's not a very likely development with
people who are dying in excited delirium."

ASSERTION: The ACLU's Balaban expressed concern that the messages police
receive about ED may actually exacerbate confrontations. If officers are
being told in training that ED subjects "have superhuman strength," he
speculated, officers may treat them "as if they are somehow not human,"
leading "officers to escalate situations."

RESPONSE: The fact is, Lawrence says, that the display of extremely abnormal
strength is one of the characteristics that makes a subject who's
experiencing ED so difficult to control.

Indeed, Sr. Cpl. Herb Cotner of Dallas PD, interviewed by NPR, told of ED
manifesting itself by "someone doing pushups with two 150-pound officers on
their back." He described one ED experience in which the subject smashed
through a plate-glass window, fell from a fence, broke his leg several
times--and still walked 2 blocks to fight with police. Another confrontation
involved a handicapped individual who "dragged us across a parking lot."

Lawrence observes: "That may not be the way the ACLU would like it to be,
but the truth is the truth. Officers must be trained for reality."

Next month [4/07] during a 2-day Force Science seminar in London, England,
Lawrence will present a briefing on ED for European police officials and
attorney Bill Everett, also an FSRC Board Member, will speak on managing the
media during high-profile, controversial incidents, such as a death by ED.

The interest abroad in this topic, "indicates that this is a problem that is
international in scope," says Dr. Bill Lewinski, executive director of FSRC.
For more information on this program and instructions on how to register for
it, go to: http://www.forcescience.org/training/seminars/

[NOTE: Force Science News has transmitted 9 articles dealing with excited
delirium since this newsletter was founded in 2004. To review them for a
broader understanding of the subject, go to:
http://www.forcesciencenews.com/home/search.html and enter "excited
delirium" in our archival search engine.]

Our thanks to Wayne Schmidt, executive director of Americans for Effective
Law Enforcement, for tipping us about the NPR series.
It's easy for the lawyers of the ACLU and AI to sit in their ivory towers of academia and tell me what they don't want me to do.  I'm still waiting for Amnesty International and the ACLU to come out in the field and demonstrate to me the proper way to restrain someone high on PCP who is attacking my officers.  I'm waiting for that class, but not holding my breath.  In Missouri we have a saying....'Show Me'. 

45
Martial Arts Topics / Re: What would you have done?
« on: April 05, 2007, 01:51:03 PM »
"As per the failure to act, never underestimate the power of by-stander apathy, a real phenomenon where diffusion of responsibility allows most people to avoid acting by waiting until someone else acts.  It's a proven phenomenon that the more people who are present, the less likely someone is to act."

This is an interesting idea.  It sounds logical, but so too the idea that there is courage in numbers.  Would you flesh this out some more please?
Sorry I haven't had a chance to reply until now.

As per by-stander apathy, it's a phenomenon where-by an individual is less likely to intervene in an emergency situation, the more other people are present.  It's counter-intuitive, as you mention, but the effect has been reproduced and observed time after time.

It is believed that, where many people are present, the anonymity of the individual, coupled with his belief that others will act, reduces the psychological pressure on his/her ego to respond.

Hence, if an individual were the only one present while a woman was being beaten and mugged, he'd feel far more psychological pressure to intervene than, say, if it happened in the middle of a group with hundreds of people around.

The interesting thing about group/crowd dynamics is that it alters and effects behavior.  It often compels individuals to do what they would not normally do, and not do what they normally would do.  In a crowd, the individual begins taking directions from the group as a whole, a whole group-think phemonon takes place.  That is why individuals in riots throw rocks and bottles, and generally act in ways they would not as individuals.

In the bystander apathy model, the crowd acts the opposite of the riot model, where each individual is waiting for a cue from the group, resulting in a delay of action or lack of action.

The key phenomenon are anonymity within the group and diffusion of responsibility.  It has been suggested that the way to counter this phenomenon is to call out an individual within the group, thereby returning individual accountability and eliminating anonymity.  This is similiar to how a riot is controlled, whereby less-lethal pain causing techniques are used to make the individual accountable by causing him pain, and making him start thinking as an individual again.

http://www.wadsworth.com/psychology_d/templates/student_resources/0155060678_rathus/ps/ps19.html

46
Martial Arts Topics / Re: What would you have done?
« on: April 02, 2007, 06:42:18 PM »
This video was atrocious.

In my state this would have easilly been a clean case of self defense by the female if she used lethal force, and a good chance a bystandard as well. Means, oppurtunity, intent were all there to seriouslly injure or kill. 

We've seen males ruff up females, generally domestic issues... but this case was an all out Attack-  not a simple argument or slap. After viewing this and contemplating it i have come to the reality that if i do see something similar, a serious attack on a female worker i will have to act. What i would do in the case i am not sure as it will depend on the scenario - possibly throw beer in his face to break his ooda loop, aor take a stool to his leg, aor something more serious to get him to stop the threat.

Possible reasons the witnesses did nothing is that it seemed to overide their ooda loop- sudden and extreme overwhelming violence. The same principles many criminal elements use to immobilize(freeze) victims during crimes such as robbery take overs, home invasions, etc.
Another possible reason could be more blatant as cowardice.

Some other thoughts on this maybe the ramping up most individuals need to come to violence. Few sane and productive citizens can go from 0-100mph at the drop of a pin. The ability to do so borders as sociopathic.
 
comments welcome.
I note the reference to Boyd's Cycle in your post....obviously a military man or police officer with tactical training.

As per the failure to act, never underestimate the power of by-stander apathy, a real phenomenon where diffusion of responsibility allows most people to avoid acting by waiting until someone else acts.  It's a proven phenomenon that the more people who are present, the less likely someone is to act. 

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Martial Arts Topics / Re: Knife vs. Gun
« on: April 01, 2007, 06:41:45 PM »
Well, since the knife vs. bat thread was so popular, how about knife vs. gun?  Let's say the scenario is:
Two men, standing ten feet apart, one man has a pistol tucked into his strong side rear hip waistband, so no holsters or straps.  He' s wearing a T-Shirt.  The other man has a tactical folder, closed, clipped inside his strongside pocket.  Just for fun, we'll say it's two gangbangers, so one has to die.  Wounded doesn't really count.  They each have decent knowledge of how to use their weapons, and of fighting, so no "Gangsta style" shooting (horizontal pistol)  or West Side story (big slashing arcs)  knife fighting.  

I'm going with the knife on this one.  Either man could choose to crash but the knife is simply the more versatile weapon, more angles.  The gun only has one, a point.  

Laz
I think the man who decides to kill the other man first, with conviction, cool deliberation, and maintaining the element of surprise, regardless of the weapon, has the advantage.

Those skilled in guerilla warfare have shown throughout the last 200 years that, with proper tactics, you can defeat a much better armed opponent by controlling the perameters of the engagement.  Guerillas negate the western firepower advantage by fighting inside the range of our heavy weapons.  In other words, fighting so close that we can't bring our big guns to bear without killing our own guys.  They excell at close range fighting, and many do it better.

The same with the knife fighter in the above scenario.  In a stand up 'Draw and go' duel, the gun fighter has an advantage in knowing that the fighting is coming, then it's who draws and gets the lethal hit off.   However, if the knife fighter uses subterfuge, and controls the timing and distance, then he wins.

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Martial Arts Topics / Re: What would you have done?
« on: April 01, 2007, 06:39:04 PM »
I've been an LEO for ten years, and I didn't become a cop to watch a drunken thug (LEO or not) beat up on a woman.  You treat this guy like you would any other potentially armed drunken sociopath....with respect for his potential for escallation of violence, you respond accordingly.

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