No profession is more intently scrutinized by the public than law enforcement. Citizens look to law enforcement agencies and their peace officers for sound judgment, decisiveness, and courage in ensuring public safety and consistent enforcement of our nation’s federal, state, and local laws. Law enforcement is clearly the most dangerous profession one could choose. On a daily basis, peace officers encounter the unknown, which frequently includes highly aggressive suspects.
Today, law enforcement must contend with a multiplicity of issues when dealing with aggressive suspects. Never before have officers been asked to balance competing interests of public welfare against their own well-being. While law enforcement training standards require proficiency in defensive techniques, I strongly encourage all peace officers to remain physically fit to ensure that they are prepared for the unknown.
I commend the efforts of Michael Young, who, for twenty-three years, has served as a sworn member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Because of Michael’s experience and nationally acclaimed expertise in martial arts, he has been a primary defensive tactics instructor on our department for over two decades. During this time, he has helped to lay the foundation for the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Defensive Tactics Training Program, which is among the finest in the country. Michael’s law enforcement experience and martial arts skills give him complete credibility in teaching the mechanics of street survival. Because I share Michael Young’s passion for training and officer safety, I am pleased to recommend his book to all who have chosen this honorable and challenging profession.
—Sheriff Leroy D. Baca,
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department
Mike Young receiving Distinguished Service Award from Sheriff Baca.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to thank Elsie S. Young, Richard K. L. Young, Margarethe F. Young, Pat Young, Kathy Young, Dean Sensui, Owen Uyehara, Walter Wong, Fred Degerberg, Jim Leone, Mark V. Wiley, Randall Roberts, Dave Infante, Ellen Ercergovich, Yancy Walden, Derek Kunishima, Don Lin, and Buddy Fowler. They helped make this book a reality. Without their support, guidance, and inspiration, this book would never have been completed.
I would also like to thank my law enforcement “family,” who helped guide me through a safe and rewarding profession and shape my defensive tactics skills. These people are listed in the order that they came into my life: Deputy James Mahone, Sergeant Dale Schirman, Deputy Gene Reed, Lieutentant Mike McAndrews, Sergeant Easie Williams, Corrections Officer Ernie Tell, Sergeant Al Fraijo, Deputy Roy Burns, Deputy John Fernandez, Lieutenant Robert Dillard, Sergeant Robert Alcaraz, Reserve Deputy Hank Nagamine, Sergeant Byron Woods, Sergeant Paul Peitrantoni, Sergeant Roberto Causey, Captain Mitch Tavera (Inglewood Police Department), Sergeant Dave Infante, Sergeant Danny Rosa, D. A. Investigator Darren Levine, Sergeant Derek Sill, Officer Tony Pasqual (Los Angeles Police Department), Deputy Kenji Mashiko, Deputy Mike Sherod, Sergeant Sam Mahi (Honolulu Police Department), Sergeant Dave Lewis, Sergeant Manny Anaya, Lieutenant Roy Levario, and Lieutenant Mark Relyea.
I cannot forget to thank the members of my own Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department, especially Sheriff Leroy Baca and Undersheriff William Stonich, for their unwavering support throughout my career.
I also want to thank my martial arts “family,” who helped me develop many of my techniques and apply them in a law enforcement environment. These people include Richard Miura (wado ryu karate), Alfred Dela Cruz (chuan fa kajukenbo), Master Hong (tae kwon do and hapkido), Raymond Tabosa (escrima), Pat Hodges (northern shaolin, pa kua), Fu Ling Tung (tai chi chuan), Calvin Yamamoto (kenshu kan karate), Jason Yoshida (judo), Eiichi Jumawan (boxing), Kimo Pang (internal shaolin), Hide Hirayama (taido), Danny Cacho (wing chun), Daniel Duby (savate), Danny Inosanto (kali/jeet kune do), Richard Bustillo (kali/jeet kune do), Bernie Pock (northern praying mantis), Richard Sylla (savate), Bira Almeidia (capoeira), Arjan Surchai (Thai boxing), Camisa (capoeira), Fidel Fraijo (boxing), Huang Ken Wang (shuai chiao), Daniel Ng (eagle claw kung fu), Andy Lau (eagle claw kung fu), Walter Wong (wing chun), the Machado brothers (Brazilian jiujitsu), Herman Suwanda (mande muda silat), Jerry Walker (lua), Tim Pahi (mao mao), Ron Balicki (shootwrestling and kali), Rorion Gracie (Gracie jiujitsu), Bob Koga (aikido), Tom Meadows (combat whip/latigo y daga), Erik Paulson (shooto), Gene Labell (wrestling), and Rinaldo Santos (Brazilian jiujitsu).
INTRODUCTION
This book introduces a set of invaluable skills you can add to the “bag of tricks” you call on in difficult or dangerous situations. I hope you will use it as a practical guide to preparing for the worst—the possibility that you will someday be attacked or otherwise need to employ martial arts techniques in your work.
I wrote this book because of the dramatic rise in assaults on law enforcement officers. According to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial, more than 62,000 officers are assaulted every year. Of those, over 21,000 are injured! (This doesn’t include the many assaults and injuries that go unreported.) The majority of these assaults on officers are carried out with an attacker’s “personal weapons”—hands, fists, or feet. (See Appendix A for more details.)
In a real fight, you may not be able to use a gun. Because of the suddenness of the attack or the proximity of others, pepper spray or batons may not help either. You may be left with only your hands, fists, or feet—and your brains—to defend yourself.
At the beginning of my career in law enforcement—over twenty-three years ago—I was already an accomplished martial artist, with a black belt in wado ryu karate, a black belt in chuan fa kajukenbo, and black belts in both tae kwon do and hapkido. I had studied judo, aikido, kenpo, northern and southern shaolin, tai chi, pa kua and hsing i, just to name a few. Since then I have been all over the world—from France, Indonesia, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan to Brazil, Belgium, Hawaii, and New Zealand—trying to find martial arts techniques that could be applied in a law enforcement environment. For the past eight years, I have taught law enforcement officers defensive techniques based on the best the martial arts world has to offer. I have taught cadets; custody officers; patrol officers; SWAT teams; security officers; state, local, and federal law enforcement agencies; chaplains; and women’s and community groups, just to name a few.
Figure 2: Training in a SWAT school
Figure 3: Training an academy class
I challenge every class: if one of the members can knock me out, I will buy them dinner. I am 5 feet, 9 inches tall and weigh about 155 pounds—and I have never bought a dinner yet. In developing my techniques, I have tried to follow Bruce Lee’s axiom: “Use what is useful, disregard what is not.”
The defensive tactics program used in our department (which is over 10,000 strong) focuses on techniques that will help officers on the street, in court, or in a custodial environment. These techniques were chosen because they are both effective and easy to learn—the simpler, the better.
Having this knowledge is good, but being able to put it into practice is crucial. It is up to you to use this information to become a better officer—by improving your defensive skills. There are plenty of suggestions in this book for ways to practice and refine these techniques—but it’s up to you to get started. These techniques are sure to come in handy, and they may save your life. If they help save