Rice Township Police Sgt. Shaun Zane recently completed the Gracie NEPA Jiu-Jitsu for Law Enforcement Instructor Camp held at Gracie NEPA, Olyphant. The training will enable Zane to provide his fellow officers with knowledge and skills in use of force to safely control and arrest a non-compliant subject.
The approximately 40-hour camp focused not just on the participating officers learning the required skills, but also how to effectively teach those skills to other officers.
Zane said the goal of the training was to provide officers the tactical knowledge and skills necessary to safely control and arrest a non-compliant, combative subject, as well as how to teach these skills to their own officers safely and effectively. The head instructor was Jeff Reese, a Gracie Jiu-jitsu black belt who has studied under two generations of Gracie family members. Gracie NEPA is one of more than 700 Gracie schools on six continents teaching Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
“This class was amazing,” Zane said of the experience. He pointed out there is what he described as “a hole” in most officer’s training when it comes to any type of defensive tactics. “This training does an incredible job filling it.”
The veteran officer, who was promoted to sergeant last year, emphasized the training was designed for real life applications with input from active and experienced law enforcement officers. “I have been a huge proponent of this type of training for a long time and to see it finally becoming more and more prevalent in law enforcement is fantastic,” he stated.
“All the skills learned work toward a safe handcuffing position for both the officer and combative subject,” Zane noted. “After all, there are no ‘tap outs’ in the real world,” he added.
He feels strongly that the training will give officers the confidence and skills needed to not only control a combative subject, but also themselves, avoiding panic and excessive use of force. He pointed out that during the training there was a focus on de-escalation techniques and verbal commands along with the scalability of force applied.
Zane said he takes great pride in the Rice Township leadership as well as that of the police department in realizing the potentially lifesaving value of the training. He said he looks forward to implementing it on a monthly basis, if possible. “The modern professional law enforcement officer needs to be proficient in not only the laws but also the applications of force in a safe and controlled manner necessary to effect an arrest in any circumstance,” Zane emphasized. “I cannot say enough positive about “Coach” Jeff Reese and the other instructors that helped out during the camp. As the saying goes, an untrained officer is an accident waiting to happen.”
To support the importance of the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu training, Zane pointed to a case study conducted by the Marietta, Ga., police department.
“When looking at (the study), you can see that an officer trained in (Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) was significantly less likely to be injured during an altercation,” he noted. “The combative subject incident of injury also was greatly reduced along with actual incidents of use of force. To put it plainly, this training works and has the history and statistics to back up the claims.”
Also participating in the training were local and state police officers from across Pennsylvania and New York, state Department of Corrections officers, and officers from the state Department of Community and Natural Resources.
