44

POLICE FEBRUARY 2007

OVERCOMING

MASS ATTACKS

The

W

inning

Edge

The

W

inning

Edge

When the bad guys surround you, use

these techniques to gain the upper hand.

O

ne of the most dangerous encounters a law enforce-

ment officer can face is a mass attack. Two prime ex-

amples of a mass attack are an officer responding to a bar

fight and a corrections officer tr ying to break up a fight in

the prison yard.

In these circumstances, at close range, an officer’s

weapons may not be accessible and could even be taken

and used against him. It is in these types of encounters

that the officer will have to rely on extreme, hand-to-

hand defensive tactics to survive without sustaining seri-

ous injury.

During a mass attack at close range, time and opportu-

nity are working against you. Time is your enemy because

at close range it doesn’t take long for someone to grab one

of your weapons. Opportunity is also against you, be-

cause a mass attack presents opportunities for many per-

sons surrounding you to grab one of your weapons.

If several individuals advance aggressively, you could

end up being surrounded very quickly and suffer serious

injury. To address these threats, you must employ power-

ful techniques to retain your weapons and to stay alive.

The tactics you use must focus on movement through the

masses without stopping.

MAKING A MOVE

The first move to make if you’re already surrounded

should be to suddenly move off to one side, and then to

keep moving forward while issuing strong verbal com-

mands such as “step back” or “move

back.” The reason for the sudden

move off to one side is so that if a per-

son lunges at you from the rear, you

will no longer be directly in front of

the person, making it unlikely that

you’ll be knocked to the ground.

If any individuals do not back off

or if they aggressively advance on

you, it’s important to immediately

provide enough force to drive them

back or to knock them down.

You will need to move the aggressors back far enough

to create space as you continue moving through the

crowd to get outside the circle of the crowd as soon as

possible.

To knock down anyone who confronts you or to move

them back, use a Hikuta open-hand strike or an armbar

into the chest area. These tools work especially well for

the purpose of creating an escape path out of the crowd.

The Hikuta open hand can be easily learned and ap-

plied. Of interest to officers, the open hand can be ap-

plied rapidly, with powerful results, especially when

using the three-step drill below. Of in-

terest to department super visors, the

open hand is less likely to cause injury

to those it’s being used against, and it

also protects an officer’s hand from

being broken, unlike a tight-fisted

punch.

Step One—Trigger your move

Blink your eyes to initiate your

move. Blinking serves two important

purposes: one, it triggers your move-

Officer delivers an open-hand strike.

AL ABIDIN