Mike Lynch demonstrating the ACT principles in the NAGA European championships in the advanced category. Even at top level competition, control is key.
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PC Marc Kibbey – AFO Heathrow Airport, 11 years service.
The self-defence seminar was honestly one of the best training inputs I have had in my career. The application to real world policing was easily apparent and throughout the session it was clear that these techniques would be practical, simple, and memorable for most officers to utilise.
This training reduced officer safety to a few core principles, rather than overly complex technical manoeuvres that would realistically not be used in restraining a detainee. The flexibility within this training was what made it useful and most officers present at the seminar recognised they had already been using these techniques without being trained to do so as it is what actually works in a hostile situation. This was more a refinement of what officers actually do each day.
The trainers were clearly very passionate and experienced, making the seminar enjoyable and the learning stay with me. I feel more than any other OST training previously, when a real life need to defend myself comes it’ll be these basic principles I’ll think of.
PC Yiu-Hay Man – AFO Heathrow Airport, 12 years service.
In short, awesome. I can’t wait to see what else is in the pipeline. The stuff being delivered should have been what we should have been taught from the beginning. The concept based learning is much better than technical applications (though some detail may not hurt), and looks easy to adopt in comparison with the current curriculum, and time given to learn. The instructors had just started to go over some common scenarios officers face (headlock, full mount) just before everyone turned up, and there was some sound advice being dispensed. Very interested to see what direction this goes in. Thanks for taking the time to read this and arranging these sessions. I’ll be very interested to see how this will develops in the future.
PC Ryan Lewis – Professional Standards, 20 years service.
I thought it was good and very worthwhile. The training around empty hand techniques was pitched at about the right level…I have done something similar in the past but I thought then it was too elaborate and you wouldn’t remember. I quite enjoyed the short presentation which was done on the whiteboard – bit of explanation of how we are mentally when under physical attack and stressed, the message really that it’s natural to feel scared and it’s sometimes not always about winning the fight but just buying yourself enough time until support from colleagues arrives. I think it was about being realistic and making the best of what you can do…certainly the techniques around what to do if you were pinned to the floor are vital in my opinion and they didn’t require a massive amount of strength.
