Ensuring your officers have the confidence they need to face any mission is vital to not only their success but their safety. This drill will help officers to build confidence while wearing their gear.
Each officer should have a designated safety coach and they should be wearing:
1. RedMan head gear with cage or compatible
2. Mouth piece and safety goggles or compatible
3. Chest and back protector or compatible
4. Groin protector (no foul guard) or compatible
5. Knee and chin guard or compatible
Standing at arm’s length from each other officers will proceed to go through a series of blunt force trauma checks. Since everyone is affected differently when hit, this drill should starts light and builds up to the confidence level of the officer being hit.
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Example of strike levels:
1. Touch: Just touching the target area
2. Touch - Push: Placing your hand on the target area and pushing into that area
3. Light contact: Lightly tapping the target area
4. Intermediate Contact: Striking the target area as if you were giving high five to your friend
5. Moderate Contact: Striking the target area with half of your own power
6. Full Speed and Power – Using a self gauge for yourself to no more than 75% of your own power and no more then what you feel the person you are striking can absorb safely.
Strikes to use:
• Straight Punch
• Hammer Strike
• Elbow
• Knee
• Front Kick
After each contact with the target area, ask the recipient if they are O.K. If the response is yes, increase your power the next strike.
Once you are done practicing all the strikes you are comfortable with swap rolls with your partner.
Soft Pad Tactics Training
The benefit of using soft striking bags for subduing a combative person is not only that it allows the officer to control them without injuring them, but also because it offers the officer more support from blunt force trauma then using hard plastic shields, and removes the possibility of having the shield broken or taken away from the officer and used against them.
Exercise 1:
An officer should stand in a ready position, 6 feet from their partner, holding the grip portion of the bag with their feet separated.
At the whistle, the partner without the bag should punch the officer holding the bag. The bag officer will use the soft shield to absorb and deflect the strike. This can be done with a single strike or multiple strikes as needed.
Exercise 2:
An officer should stand in a ready position, 6 feet from their partner, holding the grip portion of the bag with their feet separated.
At the whistle, the partner without the bag should use their legs to execute a front kick at the officer holding the bag. The bag officer will use the soft shield to absorb and deflect the kick. This can be done with a single or multiple kicks as needed.
Exercise 3:
An officer should stand in a ready position, 6 feet from their partner, holding the grip portion of the bag with their feet separated.
At the whistle, the partner without the bag should start walking towards the bag to simulate charging the bag officer. The bag officer will use the soft shield to absorb and deflect the charge. This should start slowly, with the team escalating the exercise until the partner is running and charging the bag.
Exercise 4:
An officer should stand in a ready position, 6 feet from their partner, holding the grip portion of the bag with their feet separated.
At the whistle, the partner without the bag should start walking towards the bag to simulate charging the bag officer. The bag officer will use the soft shield to redirect the partner into the wall or the ground to stabilize the charging subject. This should start slowly, with the team escalating the exercise until the partner is running and charging the bag.
Make sure all parties involved are wearing the proper safety gear as listed in the above training tip!
