Police Judo Update – May 25, 2020

Coaches Greeting Video

The past few months have been a challenge for our Police Judo programs (and judo in general) due to the COVID pandemic. We are now ready to move forward and incorporate all of the proper safety protocols for getting back on the mat in a safe and responsible fashion. 

During the COVID slowdown, we have been working on our Odd Squad Productions facility (the home of Women's Police Judo) in Burnaby. In addition to improving our training space. we have  transitioned Odd Squad's film production hub to include a state-of-the-art online studio. From this new studio, Odd Squad members have been delivering presentations on topics such as "Social Anxiety/Substance Use in COVID Times" with guest speaker Dr. Bill MacEwan as well as drug education presentations with Police Judo Instructor Mark Steinkampf and Cst. David Steverding.

Police Judo volunteers also assisted with the Flair Airlines “Uplifting” video campaign profiling the work of Police Judo partner OSP. Police Judo student Jane Denizmen has led a number of online core-based training workouts and is currently working on rebuilding our Police Judo website. Cst. Tsang, Trinh, S/Cst. Chin-I Hsiang, Coach Sandra Le Bris, VPD Head Instructor Brian Shipper and a number of other Police Judo members all helped provide a Police Judo greeting video for the VPD Cadets first ever on-line graduation.

A number of Police Judo Instructors and members were able to attend the annual VPD Use of Force Experts Clinic coordinated by Sgt. Brad Fawcett and hosting the top experts in this field. And finally, Police Judo volunteers contributed their time and helped Odd Squad Productions produce a top-quality training video for health care workers on how to take difficult individuals into safe custody.

The recent VPD Use of Force Expert Course with Force Sciences Theory and guest speaker Ret. Insp. Chris Bulter

The recent VPD Use of Force Expert Course with Force Sciences Theory and guest speaker Ret. Insp. Chris Bulter

CONGRATULATIONS!

Congratulations to VPD Police Judo member S/Cst. Brendon Frick and SFU Police Judo member Riley Turner who are both off to the Police Academy after being hired by VPD! And congratulations to SFU Police Judo student Isadora Dalpiaz on being hired as a Special Municipal Constable for VPD and VPD Police Judo Cadet Asst. Instructor Sandra LeBris on being hired for Transit Police! Let the adventure begin...

Police Judo would also like to congratulate the VPD Cadet Graduating Class of 2020 – we really enjoyed working with you this past year!

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Police Judo Throwback

JIBC Police Judo Instructor Mark Steinkampf presents on drug education to West Point Grey Academy in the new OSP Online Presentation Studio

JIBC Police Judo Instructor Mark Steinkampf presents on drug education to West Point Grey Academy in the new OSP Online Presentation Studio

Our new hand-logged timber/hand-built check in counter for the Odd Squad training facility in Burnaby

Our new hand-logged timber/hand-built check in counter for the Odd Squad training facility in Burnaby

Max monitors as Jane leads a core-based workout for Police Judo members at the Burnaby location

Max monitors as Jane leads a core-based workout for Police Judo members at the Burnaby location

S/Cst. Chin-I Hsiang runs the 50-minute physical challenge on-line workout

S/Cst. Chin-I Hsiang runs the 50-minute physical challenge on-line workout

Police Judo Junior Coach Launa cross-training on the firewood front!

Police Judo Junior Coach Launa cross-training on the firewood front!

Police Judo Junior Tobin and VPD Judo member/soon-to-be-Constable Brendon Frick take a break from old-school fitness training to get some school work done in the outdoor classroom!

Police Judo Junior Tobin and VPD Judo member/soon-to-be-Constable Brendon Frick take a break from old-school fitness training to get some school work done in the outdoor classroom!

Our first Police Judo Club to start back training under the BC Government Phase Two Re-Start program will be the Odd Squad Women’s Police Judo Club. The first practice will be on May 31st 2020 at our Odd Squad Police Judo Burnaby location.

OSP Police Judo Women’s Instructor Yuki Yokosawa and S/Cst. Chin-I Hsiang with the Women’s Police Judo Club

OSP Police Judo Women’s Instructor Yuki Yokosawa and S/Cst. Chin-I Hsiang with the Women’s Police Judo Club

All our new COVID protocols are now posted on the Police Judo Website. We are also finalizing the training video for Police Judo COVID protocols and this will be sent to you shortly (thanks to all the Police Judo volunteers who assisted with this film day!). The first Police Judo practice will be open to Law Enforcement Judo Association members, but pre-registration will be required. We will be limiting the class to eight participants to provide ample training room, one instructor, one gatekeeper and cleaning staff. 

Brendon filming the COVID training protocols for Police Judo

Brendon filming the COVID training protocols for Police Judo

We will update all members as our other clubs come on line including VPD Day, VPD Night, SFU, SFU Juniors, JIBC, Kamloops, and Ray Cam. 

We have also asked Big Vinnie to help us set up a COVID Police Judo Gi Sale. Details to come shortly on this. 

Some of the Police Judo attire available at the Police Judo online store!

Some of the Police Judo attire available at the Police Judo online store!

We look forward to seeing you all back on the mats, moving and doing judo again!

Best Regards,

Your Instructors - Police Judo



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3rd Annual VPD International Police Judo Clinic (April 30 - May 3, 2019)

Our 3rd Annual VPD International Police Judo Clinic with Guest Instructor Hiroshi Katanishi, EU Judo Expert, will be held at the Tactical Training Centre at 2010 Glen Dr., Vancouver, BC on April 30 - May 3 (4 days).

Cost is $500 for external agencies and $200 for VPD increment.

Other details will be posted soon.

Previous year’s event details are in the Past Events section of the Training Clinics page.

Some information about the visiting instructors: policejudo.ca/police-judo-news/police-judo-clinic-in-switzerland-march-2018

Some posts from the annual International Police Judo Clinic in May 2018…

More photos from the annual International Police Judo Clinic in May 2018…

Summer 2018 News and Events (Juniors and Adults)

Hello Everyone! 

Halfway through our 2018 training year, Police Judo has hosted multiple clinics and workshops, traveled to training camps and local Inter-Club competitions with our program.  Not to mention our Police Judo Juniors Liwen, Nikka, Keira and Tobin participating in a judo demo with the Police Judo Demo Team in the VPD Recruiting Event "Girls Can Fly" in Abbotsford led by Coach Zan as well as another Police Judo Demo with Nikkei Judo Club at the Japanese Matsuri event. Also, great to see some of the Police Judo Juniors have developed to the next level and tried their first judo match against higher belts.

Aidan Keyes, our 14 year-old Police Judo Junior has stepped up from BC events.  He qualified for the 2018 BC Winter Games in Kamloops for -46kg/U16 division, as well as qualified for his first Nationals in May for both U16 & U18 with Team BC (along with 90 other judo athletes in Calgary).  In February 2018 Aiden represented Zone 4 (Fraser Valley) with 15 judo athletes from Surrey, Coquitlam, New Westminster, White Rock, and Burnaby at the BC Winter Games. His team won the team competition for Bronze against all the other 8 zones from BC.  During his first trip outside BC to Saskatchewan with Team BC, along with our Police Judo Junior coach Howie, Aidan won Bronze/U16 in his division and Tobin Jr. won his all matches for his participant medal for U12.  

We are very proud of Launa Hinton, and congratulate her for receiving the Bronze medal in the U21/-52 division in the Judo Canada Nationals this year. Most recently she qualified and passed her first Dan black belt. Thanks to long time coach Chin-I, Mr. Suda from Abbotsford Judo, Brian and Sensei Russ from VPD Police Judo, Tak from SFU Police Judo, Mark, Rick, Al, from JIBC Police Judo, and everyone from Police Judo for helping her along this  judo path. Launa has practiced judo since the age of 3 and she has been consistently training and practicing with a full schedule, including training and traveling with Team BC from West to East across Canada to the National training camp in Montreal.  She has participated in local, Provincial, National, and US competitions consistently throughout the last 4 years. She achieved great results from hard work and goal setting, step by step. A black belt is just the beginning of learning. Good luck to her for the upcoming Senior season year.  A black belt is achievable for every youth, if one sets it as a goal, no matter how long it takes!

Prior to the Nationals this year, both Aidan and Launa stepped up their training and flew out to Taiwan and Korea to enhance their training by visiting local judo clubs, high school judo teams, and ultimately the National Police University in Taiwan. In addition, they both  worked out with and observed how the top Korean National Team trains. Thank you Mi Hee Choi of Police Judo for connecting us her Korean instructor, Cho Jun-Ho, who is an Olympic medalist as well as a coach for the Korean National team. He gave up time with his team to set up lessons and training with Aidan and Launa. Mi Hee's superb hospitality with the Police Judo Juniors (and seniors) meant everyone had a wonderful first-hand experience and rare training opportunity in Korea. 

The Police Judo Junior classes this Summer:
May 22 to Aug 9 every Tuesday @6:30-7:30pm (Advanced/experienced) class & 
Thursday @6:30-7:30pm (Recreational/beginners) class
SFU On-Line registration is open and you can also purchase your parking pass through On-Line registration. https://athleticsandrecreation.its.sfu.ca

Judogi can be purchased from local store with 10% off for Police Judo MIKADO https://mikadomartialarts.com/product-category/all-brands/

or On-Line Matsuru https://matsuru.ca/collections/judogi

or Fushida
http://www.fushida.ca/judo-gis-uniforms.php 

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Congratulations to Launa Hinton 17 years old, our first junior from the Police Judo Junior program, recently passing her black belt Shodan exam after starting her judo practice at age of 3 years old at the old VPD gym. Thank you for her Uke, Coach Howie for all the good breakfalls!!

Launa with Coach Howie at her recent Kata exam  

Congrats to our junior student, Kelly, who starts her first year of academic studies in UBC. Well done and we are proud of them!! 

We are getting ready for the third annual Tecate, Mexico charity/volunteer Police Judo 2018 visit from July 15-21, 2018 with 12 of our volunteers joining to run sport/judo camps & starting the build for a dedicated sport centre for the community of Tecate!
Special thanks to VPD tactical Training Centre force options training unit instructor Cst. John Irving & JIBC Police Judo instructor Sgt. Mark Steinkampf, and Coach Zan with the team of police judo for organizing all the fundraising work including the anonymous cash donations from LEJA members, force options instructors, and students attending the clinics. A special thanks to Vincent Zhao kindly donating the bundle of plain shirts for police judo toward the cause! 
For our final fundraiser prior to departure, we are excited and looking forward to host our first Sunday meet for local clubs and their juniors for the mini interclub SFU Police Judo shiai event. All the registration fees and merchandise sales (together with the proceeds of the police judo edged weapon and women self-defense clinics) will go directly to the cause and will benefit the youth of Tecate.  Please save the date, register and bring your family to enjoy the event! 

Thank you!

Cutting Edge Fundraising - June 16, 2018
sold out
Cutting Edge Fundraising - June 16, 2018

Upcoming event for Juniors: July 8, 2018

SFU Police Judo InClub Sunday Meet!

  • Have fun
  • Meet judo friends
  • Challenge yourself
  • Give back
Click on the image to download PDF. 

Click on the image to download PDF. 

For students interested in learning about coaching and instructing basics, the NCCP coaching program run by Deb Ladler is recommended! This certification is mandatory for those interested in moving on to black belt, and is a preferred credential for…

For students interested in learning about coaching and instructing basics, the NCCP coaching program run by Deb Ladler is recommended! This certification is mandatory for those interested in moving on to black belt, and is a preferred credential for those volunteers who are regularly assisting with coaching Juniors (If you are planning on being involved an Assistant Instructor for the Police Judo Junior program, the NCCP Dojo Assistant course through Judo BC is another recommended coaching course). Please contact Brian Shipper at brianshipper@yahoo.com for more information on NCCP with Deb Laidler.

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Edmonton International Judo Tournament - March 2018

Chin-I was out for 3 days with a big bunch for a training clinic and to support the kids who were competing (Aiden, Tobin, and Launa) in the Edmonton International Tournament. Brad Endean and his daughter, Jane and Ashley, along with Jen Keyes and Kim were out there too. Ashely and Aidan attended the judo clinic by US Olympian Silver medalist Travis Stevens. Congrats to Launa - whose last fight was with the Olympic Silver medalist Travis' student - for her Gold and Bronze medals, Tobin and Aiden for their work out there - takes some courage to do this - and a lot of high level judo kids here from across Canada. Unfortunately Kiara ended up being sidelined with a shoulder issue so was not compete. 

Police Judo Demo Team - March 2018

The Police Judo Demo team provided 2 demonstrations at the Abbotsford airport with VPD Recruiting at "Girls Can Fly" event on Saturday, March 10th, 2018. The VPD judo club was invited by VPD recruiting to participate. One demonstration was held in the World's largest military transport jet - talk about bragging rights! The other demo was held on the tarmac amongst all the event tents and tables. We were visited and given a nice thank you from the Deputy Chief Howard Chow at this event.Thanks very much to Zan Tsang and his team including the kids judoists from SFU for making us all look good! Great work by Zan training the team. Thanks to Brian Shipper, Bryan Nykon, Mark Steinkampf for helping to oversee it all and get the mats to the event. 

Police Judo Clinic in Switzerland - March 6-12, 2018

Special thanks Instructor Hiroshi Katanishi, Pascal Badan, Andre Akribas and Kwai Judo Club for hosting Police Judo instructors in Lausanne, Switzerland. 

Sgt. Toby Hinton, Ret. Cst. Al Arsenault, and Cst. Dan Pain were in Switzerland running Police Judo Clinics in March 8-10, 2018.

The hospitality provided us by organizers Pascal and Det. Andre Akribas was exceptional. Pascal (retired Police Officer - student of Hiroshi Katanishi) and Andre organized the training clinics, and these clinics covered Toby and Al's trip expenses for delivering this training. Andre and Pascal had organized this event well, hosting 30 LE officers on day 1, 21 officers on day 2, and 22 (including officers, judo or jiu jitsu people) for day 3. Day 3 was held in a very nice gym at the Swiss Police Headquarters in Lausanne and we were provided tours of the police facilities.

We were scheduled to have a private flight around Switzerland, but weather prevented this from going ahead. We also received a private tour of the Geneva Airport Tower where Pascal currently works, and a visit to the oldest castle in Switzerland and a coffee at the Montreaux Jazz Bar. Instructor Hiroshi Katanishi involved his whole family in the training trip, opening up the dojo at night to have us over for meals and to socialize with his instructors, wife and daughter.

The first two days we had Law Enforcement from all across French Speaking Switzerland (6+ States/Cantons). Many of the Law Enforcement Officers were black belts in Judo, and a number were back belts in Jiu Jitsu. The feedback we received on the training was very positive. Surveys will be put out by Pascal so we can analyze the officer feedback. I believe that this trip will help open up other opportunities for Police Judo training in Europe.

Dan was a good uke for all the demo work and assisting on the mat, and Al was in top form for the joint locks and elbow control drills. We had Instructor Hiroshi Katanishi deliver intro drill training for an hour demonstrating foot sweeps and leg reaps, which was a good segue into the leg reap takedown to standing arm lock that we provide in our training. Dan and Toby dropped in and worked out with the Judo Kwai club one night – a great work out!

Organizers Andre, Pascal and Instructor Hiroshi Katanishi are coming over for the Police Judo Clinic in May. Hiroshi Katanishi will provide a separate two-day clinic on judo basics and movement for higher belts on May 5-6, 2018 at the TTC. I would really encourage all Police Judo students above green belt to come out for this. He will bring his daughter, who is a recreational judoka, when he visits. His training focuses on basic movement and technique, which is beneficial for us. We're looking forward to their visit! 

The Best of Police Judo - 2017

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Events

There were many events undertaken by Police Judo Instructors, students, and volunteers throughout 2017 – below are a few of the highlights:

  • TTC Police Judo completed important and needed food drives for the Yo Bro Youth organization. Commendable community spirit and effort from Head Instructor Brian Shipper and the support of the club members.
  • Good work by Yoon in leading a group of dedicated Police Judo volunteers and delivering another two semesters of Ray Cam Kids Judo at the Ray Cam Community Centre through the VPD PAL/Police Judo Program. A community service VPD – Police Judo partnership
  • Police Judo volunteers once again stepped up to assist when TTC Armourer and friend to many in Lower Mainland law enforcement, Bob Steele, suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. Our volunteers helped prepare a fitting memorial send off in the TTC 50-meter gun range.
  • More Police Judo workouts led by TTC Head Instructor Brian Shipper and assisted with Police Judo Volunteers for the VPD New Kids through VPD Ethnic Diversity & as well as the VPD Cadets program.
  • Continuing community service demonstrated by Police Judo with the annual workout for the VPD Police Museum Spring Break Camp and Summer program.
  • SFU Police Judo Junior Program has grown immensely over the past year. Fall semester 2017 we had 50 students registered in the program. Thanks to all the volunteers who help regularly – 2x a week – to maintain this important youth program. This program has been running for 14 years now (started in the old VPD Police Gym at 312 Main St. in 2003 – moved to SFU in 2010). A number of the youth who started with this program have now moved on to the senior program at SFU. Great to see this continuity. Judo should be for life!
  • Chin-I Hsiang led a community service Summer Camp Police Judo clinic for youth at Trout Lake Community Centre.
  • Congrats to our members: Josh Jewett, Samrat Thind, Kevin Li and Jorden Davidson hired by RCMP and joining depot for the training. Welcome back, Cst. Thomas Gysler, Cst. Carla Tsang, and Police Judo black belt, Cst. Sergei Zamjitski returning back on the mats with their new badges ready to serve.
  • Congrats to Police Judo students who were recently hired by the VPD: Alisha Nakamura, Akash Dhaliwal, Nitish Sharma, Andrew Inglis, Harman Gosal, Christopher Chan, Kelvin Trinh, and also to Ahmed Bouchiba - hired by the Sheriffs.
  • Special thanks to Zan Tsang and MiHee Choi for their incredible work on selling the Ali Lambert Memorial shirts and great support from the Police Judo students on buying shirts. The text “Be Kind; Be Gentle; Be Strong” encased inside the logo created by Ali Lambert and finalized by Grace Eng has come become a Police Judo standard.
  • Special thanks to Ray Bergen – Ali Lambert’s grandfather – for his generous support of Police Judo. In addition to coming up to SFU Police Judo and providing a presentation on Ali’s legacy and his support for our work, he has made a 5 year, $5,000.00 a year commitment to Police Judo (in addition to other donations he has provided). If you check the Police Judo website – he is listed as our corporate sponsor through his company Canreal Management Corporation. For more information on Ali Lambert, her logo contribution to Police Judo, and our shirts, check out the link: http://policejudo.ca/police-judo-news/2017/3/7/new-police-judo-logo-by-ali-lambert. If you are interested in shirts, Zan will be running another batch for Feb, 2018. It should be noted that Ray Bergen is also a generous supporter of Odd Squad Productions  - the charity founded by a number of the Police Judo Instructors.
  • Congrats to Sheriff Brad Endean on a number of fronts. He was promoted to Sergeant this year. He is now in his third year of running Police Judo in Kamloops and the club is growing and expanding. Brad was a guest instructor at the first international Police Judo clinic and has prepared over 120 videos on Police Judo techniques. These will eventually be made available to Police Judo members. He has expanded his program to offer training and workshops to a number of agencies including Kamloops Bylaw officers, Kamloops First Nations Band, and Williams Lake RCMP officers. And congrats to his daughter Kiara on her recent promotion by Aberdeen Sensie John Huntley to brown belt!
  • Throughout this year, we were fortunate to learn judo techniques from our judo friends visiting including Kevin Thorneloe of New West Judo, Terry Maniwa & Layton Keely of Abbotsford Judo, and Mario DesForges from Yukon Judo to other international judo experts such as Sensei Katanishi of Switzerland,  Olympic and World Judo medalist, Yuki Yokosawa of Japan, Takeru Nobeashi of Japan, and Judo BC head coach Jeremy Le Bris originally from France. 
  • Some of our recreational Police Judo students participated this year in a number of judo training camps such as Ilias Iliadis and Georgii Zantaraia at Abbotsford, Travis Stevens and the US National head coach, Jimmy Pedro in the US Open in Florida, and Travis Stevens in Invermere. All the students represented Police Judo well.
  •  A contingent of Police Judo students joined Chin-I Hsiang and Launa, Rowan, and Aidan to travel, meet, and learn judo from Neil Adams, an international Judo legend and a former World Champion along with Sportif Judo and Kids Judo 101 creator, Peter Gardner for the international Sportif Training Camp and Tournament in Edinburgh Scotland, April 2017.
  • The first International VPD Police Judo Clinic was hosted over 4 full days at the TTC to a full house of law enforcement members from across BC, Alta, and also from Washington and Switzerland. 60 participants had a week of training, both on the mat and in the classroom, on the Police Judo, judo basics, LE tactics, and a host of other relevant topics. The clinic wrapped out with a demonstration of judo fused with arrest and control tactics by the developing Police Judo Demonstration Team. This set the foundation for their first public and major roll-out at the Odd Squad Gala. The feedback for this was overwhelmingly positive. We will be hosting the second annual VPD Police Judo Clinic May 1-4, 2018.
  • Top police cadets from Beijing in the People’s Public Security University of China returned in 2017 for multiple Police Judo visit and workouts – joining in with TTC students and SFU Police Judo students to learn the basics of Police Judo tactics and techniques.
  • Paul Blundell – Assistant Instructor at SFU Police Judo - along with several Police Judo volunteers, ran a number of community service volunteer self-defense clinics for females in Burnaby. These were well attended – and an important part of the Police Judo volunteer spirit.
  • Thank you to Margot Thorneloe, the Judo Mom and black belt helping out with Police Judo, as she led the Police Judo group representing and showing the volunteer Police Judo spirit at the Adrian Oliver Memorial Run.
  • Sadly, our long term, dedicated volunteer and VPD role player Mi Hee Choi (and recently promoted brown belt) left to Korea to start her new chapter of life. We are proud of her and the outstanding character she demonstrated daily at judo. She is continuing with judo training under the wing of the top instructor Jun-Ho Cho in Korea. Wewish her good luck and all the best with her new journey.  Police Judo is always open for you whenever you are back in Canada!
  • In March of 2017 Police Judo instructor Al Arsenault and Sgt. Mark Steinkampf – along with other Police Judo and VPD members attended the International Law Enforcement Education and Training Association Conference in St. Louis and presented Police Judo to force options trainers from around the world.
  • Police Judo Instructor Chin-I Hsiang and Cst. Dave Steverding attended First Nations communities in the Carrier Sekani Region and provided both drug education and Police Judo clinics. Police Judo volunteer Mi Hee Choi assisted as well.
  • Police Judo Instructor Al Arsenault and Sgt. Mark Steinkampf provided two days of training for the Park Rangers of Vancouver – on both Tac Com as well as Police Judo basics.
  • Police Judo provided workshops for Paladin Security on tactical repositioning, and dealing with edged weapons issues. These were led by Al Arsenault, Mark Steinkampf, and Toby Hinton.
  • Brian Shipper – Head Instructor at TTC Police Judo (now VPD Police Judo) – has started a black belt registry with the help of Adelphie Cheng. This will codify the black belt legacy for Police Judo.
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  • In June, our Police Judo volunteers Amy Kelly, Ben Miller and Neil Roploc paid on their own travel expense led by VPD Cst. Al Kussat and his wife Naomi, again joining the second year of the incredibly rewarding experience of running weeklong Police Judo sport activities along with delivering drug awareness education to over 1,000 youth in the Mexican border towns of Tecate and Ensenada. An incredible trip to the top of the Baja, filled with some amazing highlights including meeting government officials in Ensenada, and working on a plan to provide the kids of Tecate with a sports stadium so we can return and run Police Judo camps. Kudos to all the participants, as this is self-funded and a trip driven by volunteer work. Look forward to 2018!
  • The VPD Force Options Instructors were training hard over the past few years. Congrats on the grading for all of them and thumbs-up for their dedicated hard work practicing at TTC Police Judo morning sessions and also joining in for the Police Judo clinic and additional training when possible. These members have integrated Police Judo tactics and training into physical training in Force Options Training.
  • On December 1st, Our Police Judo Demo Team led by William POON with 18 members from 3 clubs (JIBC, TTC and SFU), along with the Police Judo volunteers, showcased the first major public demonstration for the Demo Team at the Odd Squad 20-year Anniversary Gala event in front of 350 guests. A great performance with much positive feedback!
  • Ret. Cst. Al Arsenault is finalizing the first Police Judo book – focusing on joint lock controls for law enforcement. Think you have it tough with a 2,000 word assignment? Al’s book is at 300,000 words in addition to thousands of pictures. To make this manageable, he will be publishing a series of books – this first one on joint locks from Police Judo due out in Spring 2018. This has been an ongoing project for the past 7 years – and will generate much interest, not only from North America, but also international.
  • TTC Police Judo will be continuing on as “VPD Police Judo” in 2018. Brian Shipper remains the head instructor. Much more to come on this, including the formal development of the VPD Police Judo Demonstration Team, and more training opportunities. 100 judo gis were just purchased for training purposes by the VPD Force Options Training Unit. Lots planned. Stay tuned!

Achievements

  • 2017 Police Judo volunteer of the year- Zan Tsang – incredible work spirit and volunteer service.
  • Dan Lisk, Paul Blunden and William Poon received Police Judo Assistant Instructor certificates in 2017. Congrats!
  • SFU Police Judo student, Michael Mercado grades to black belt. Congrats!
  • SFU Police Judo brown belts Amy Kelly and Patrick Chan earned their black belts by demonstrating the length of their experience, volunteerism and leadership as well as helping coach the Police Judo Juniors and Senior students. Congrats!
  • Val Prociak and Dr. John Clealand from Kamloops as well as Hayden Roberts from Calgary were promoted to black belt in May. Congrats!
  • VPD Cst. Bryan Nykon represented Police Judo won Bronze medal in 2017 World Police & Fire Game. Bryan is helping with Force Options training for the VPD, and has volunteered for a number of the VPD Police Judo training sessions.
  • Launa Hinton won (second year in a row) for two categories of Bronze medals on -48kg both U18 & U21 in the Canadian Nationals (invitation only - top 8 in Canada from each division) the “Elite 8” tournament in Montreal Quebec. Launa has been selected for the Elite 8 in Montreal in January 2018 – she heads out for the week training camp prior to the tournament on Jan 8th, 2018. This tournament will be broadcast on the Fight Network.
  • Both Ayumi Morita & Aidan Keyes of Police Judo Junior are selected from Burnaby Zone and will represent for 2018 BC Winter Game in Kamloops
  • Recreational Police Judo member, Howie Hoang, won the gold medal at his very first judo tournament at the US Rainer Cup in Tacoma
  • Thumbs up to the Police Judo Juniors, despite their young age, they demonstrated their courage and confidence, and participated the local competitions and Samuri judo session to expand their judo experience. Some won medals and some did not, but who cares. It’s the spirits counts! Our junior Kiara Ballantyne - 7 years old - made a good judo friend at her very first judo tournament in Abbotsford!

Thank you

  • To all our in-house black belt instructors: Rick Hawkins, Tak Izumi, Yoon Choi, Justin Yuen along with Adelphie Cheng, Margot Thorneloe, Dan Lisk, Paul Blundell, William Poon, Jag Ghangas, Frank Molnar and Hemant Kulkarni, for assisting our program continuously. We are looking forward to your help with another upcoming year!
  • Police Judo Volunteers with your time and efforts from coaching juniors, role players in the clinics, Odd Squad events and productions, demo team, assisting BC forest fire to mop the floors…etc- you guys rocks the house!!
  • The Police Judo Board of Directors, Ret. Insp. Tim Laidler (founder of Police Judo), Dr. Kim Polowek, and new treasurer, Cheryl Steinkampf. Special thanks to Deb Laidler – our NCCP Coaching advisor – for the help and assistance for providing our senior belts with the NCCP foundation for coaching, and the assistance with program oversight and delivery.
  • Ray Bergen for his generous support of Police Judo. Ray has also brought in additional support from his friend Eric Martin – so thanks to you both.
  • Special thanks also to VPD Chief Cst. Adam Palmer for his support of both Odd Squad Productions educational work and Police Judo. 

BCIT News: Police Judo emphasizes development, not competition

Police Judo emphasizes development, not competition

Posted on May 5, 2017 by Aaron Schulze

Police Judo believe judo is the martial arts style best suited for police work because of its philosophy to take care of one’s partner. (Aaron Schulze/BCIT News).

Police Judo opened the doors to one of its black belt graduation ceremonies at the Vancouver Police Department Tactical Training Centre.

Police Judo is a group of instructors and police officers who teach people how to use judo in policing situations. It was established 25 years ago at Simon Fraser University (SFU) by a group of core martial artists practicing traditional judo. It was eventually moved to the Vancouver Police Department, where everyone began to practice judo competitively.

Sgt. Toby Hinton is one of the original members of Police Judo. Hilton says the competitive resulted in a rough start, as the group only had around half a dozen big, strong guys who were all police officers just hammering away at one another.

Sgt. Hinton and the rest of the members of Police Judo decided to change their model. They stripped the competitive aspect from their group and set new entry requirements. In order for someone to be accepted into Police Judo, they must pass a criminal record check, a security clearance, and get a police officer to sponsor them.

“Mixed martial arts isn’t about helping someone, it’s about trying to damage someone until they submit. That’s not what we’re about. We’re about having fun, enjoying workouts, and safe practice places. We don’t care about competition, we couldn’t care less; it doesn’t matter. We’re equipping people with something that is far more important than competition, we’re equipping them for life.” – Sgt. Toby Hinton, Vancouver PD/Police Judo

The change from competitiveness to developing helped Police Judo expand. Police Judo opened up at SFU in 2010, the Justice Institute in 2012, Kamloops in 2014, and now has 300 official members and has trained thousands of people.

Along with personal development, Police Judo wants to train people who are planning to become police officers before they go to an academy, so they’re prepared to deal with the pressure of dealing with the human body.

“If you want to become a massage therapist in British Columbia you’re probably going to do 2200 hours of practice before you get certified to lay hands on some on. Chances are it’s not a life or death situation. I don’t think we’re providing enough training time for people in the world of policing and law enforcement because they have difficult problems to solve sometimes in seconds, and they have to keep themselves safe and they have to keep other people safe.” – Sgt. Toby Hinton, Vancouver PD/Police Judo.

Hinton believes judo is the best martial art for police work because of its philosophy to take care of one’s partner and focus of physical body control rather than strikes. Hinton says police officers in countries such as Taipei are competent in body control because they spend 200 hours practicing judo and another 200 learning defense techniques.

“If you’re not competent in physical control it can create problems for you and other people, so what we want to try to do is to help people, especially younger people when they’re starting out in the field to get a better proficiency. Not everybody’s going to be cooperative, easy to deal with, or rational, but we have to figure out the most ethical way to deal with that given we have a job to do.” – Sgt. Toby Hinton, Vancouver PD/Police Judo.

Police Judo doesn’t expect its students to just understand the physical aspect, but also the mentality of being a good person. Hinton says Police Judo has a requirement that students won’t be able to grade up with doing community service and helping other people.

Officers in training, community peace keepers, students, seniors, everyone is welcome to learn judo safely. (Aaron Schulze/BCIT News).

Police Judo’s belief is that the most educated person is the one who knows the world around them. Hinton says Police Judo is all about giving people physical and mental skills they’ll need going forward in life, even if they don’t plan on going into law enforcement.

 

New Police Judo logo by Ali Lambert

Alexandra LAMBERT
LAMBERT, Alexandra (Ali)

Ali Lambert was working with Police Judo and using her artistic skills to help create additional logos for Police Judo. She had done some training in Police Judo at the Tactical Training Centre Police Judo Club and had an interest in the martial arts. Here is one of the mock-ups she was working on for a minimalist Police Judo logo:

And here is the shirt design created from this logo and using words that we think would represent her personality, as well as our Police Judo philosophy:

LAMBERT, Alexandra Beverly
July 29, 1994 - January 21, 2017

 

Ali Lambert was taken from us while travelling in Thailand at the age of 22. Beloved daughter of Douglas and Nicole. Sister to Gabrielle and Zachary. Granddaughter of Douglas and Beverly Lambert and Ray and Niki Bergen. Survived by aunts and uncles, cousins, and friends too numerous to mention. Ali was an award-winning photographer, a talented graphic designer, and an artistic, creative force. She reveled in the early morning light, and sought reflection in still water. She found inspiration travelling up the coast on the family boat, loved to go paddle-boarding with her Dad, and enjoyed herself with family and friends at Qualicum Beach. She had fun riding her bike all over town, whether that was Vancouver, Victoria or Paris. We are grateful for the memory of her brilliant smile and infectious laugh, her abundant beauty, her sense of adventure and joie de vivre. Courageous and spirited, Ali was busy exploring the world and embracing the experience, and four months into a global adventure, she was loving her life. We will hold her forever in our hearts.

Police Judo Charity Sports Camp (Tecate, Mexico, July 2016)

The Police Judo Association is joining Cst. Al Kussat (VPD Force Options Training Unit - with years of experience and charity work in Tecate, Mexico) and embarking on a one week sports camp for youth in the Baja Mexico city of Tecate (across from San Diego) from July 3rd to the 10th, 2016.

Police Judo members attending are paying all of their own travel and expense costs. All fundraising done for this event will be a direct benefit to underprivileged youth in Tecate. Police Judo will be holding morning and afternoon judo and sports camps, and drug education presentations in the evening at multiple communities around the Tecate area.

This goodwill visit is the opposite of a luxury holiday and will be involve a fair amount of work for those volunteering. Police Judo members will be preparing meals for the community (pancake breakfast) and will be expected to host approximately 150 youth every sport training session. Volunteers will also be delivering donated sports equipment and food (bought with fundraising dollars) to homes around Tecate.

A special thanks to Cst. Al Kussat who has generously provided all transportation and accommodation for Police Judo members attending. This is one of many volunteer undertakings that Police Judo sponsors.

Fundraising Goals:

To raise $1500 to be donated to food for youth and the community. To collect as much sports equipment as possible for the youth of Tecate.

Police Judo Water Bottles:

Police Judo has two hundred water bottles for sale. These are BPA approved, dishwasher safe water bottles with the Police Judo Logo on the bottle. These water bottles cost $10 - all proceeds directly benefit the youth of Tecate, Mexico.

How you can help?

Buy a water bottle!

 

Any used sports equipment (except clothing and winter sports) will be gladly accepted. There is a truck and trailer going down in advance bringing soccer balls, bikes, baseball equipment and other sports items.

SFU Police Judo contact: Chin-I Hsiang
JIBC Police Judo contact: Al Arsenault
TTC Police Judo contact: Zan Tsang

Thank you!

Donors to date:
Rom Ranallo, Ingrid Chen, Mi Hee Choi, Whitecaps, Al Kuniss, Al Kussat. 

Donated Sports Equipment:
So far, we have 80 soccer balls, 500 Police Judo sports balls, bikes and other sports equipment donated.

Police Judo Volunteers Tecate Mexico 2016:

Al Arsenault
Toby Hinton
Chin-I Hsiang
Tobin Hinton
Amy Kelly
Patrick Chan
Steven Huang
Steven Kim
William Poon
Aiden Keyes
Dan Lisk
Al Kussat
Andrea Gee
Josh Jewett
Mike Mercado

With several others working on making the trip...

Anyone interested in joining the group, please email Chin-I Hsiang at chinihsiang@gmail.com

Blue Line Article - Police Judo - Part 4

Police Judo - Part 4   
"Training for effect - Going to the ground"  
by Toby Hinton and Al Arsenault

(this article was published on Blue Line Magazine in May 2016)

download original

Although we do like to ground fight in Police Judo, that kind of training is placed within the context of being taken off your feet as opposed to willfully going to the ground with your subject. The goal is not to ‘win’ on the ground, it is to stay on your feet at all costs. If taken to the ground, the goal is not to look for a submission but to fight to get up as soon as possible. We have seldom been taken off our feet or slipped, however we concede that in this day of ‘mixed martial arts’ (MMA) popularity officers may end up on the ground during an arrest situation. There are MMA clubs which cater to anyone regardless of their personal backgrounds or intentions.

People of dubious character will use their skills for nefarious purposes because they have low moral standards. Police Judo does not accept those who are involved in or associated with crime, gangs or drugs. ‘Thug life’ can train elsewhere.

We do not teach leg and ankle locks unless they are used in the context of team arrests. They can be injurious (even in training), due to the likelihood of partners failing to realize their knee joint has been fully extended or twisted beyond its normal range of motion before pain begins.

Also, the ground is simply not a safe place for a police officer due to the possibilities of eye gouging, biting, head butting, multiple assailants, etc. Why teach someone to stay on the ground rather than to get up as soon and as safely as possible when other assailants could be looming?

If suspects ‘tap out’ when you’re not in a position to handcuff them, they don’t ‘promise’ to cooperate if you release your hold. Solo officer applying a leg lock don’t get any closer to handcuffing an individual. The benefits of practicing leg locks do not outweigh the risk of injuring students.

That’s why we refrain from teaching them other than to recognize that the technique is unfolding and showing how to escape.

Keeping it savagely simple

Police Judo is relatively easy to learn and use; it just takes practice. Under stress, fine and complex motors skills begin to decline when the heart rate exceeds 115 and 145 beats per minute respectively. In regards to the stressed brain, Bruce Siddle and David Grossman found that the 115-145 BPM range to be the optimal heart rate for survival and combat performance (code ‘red’).

To counter this negative physiological effect, environmental inoculation training (simulations and scenarios designed to stress the trainee, as utilized in Ken Murray’s Reality Based Training) is needed. This allows the least complex techniques to be performed under stress for lasting and meaningful training effects. Handcuffing alone while under realistic stress can pinpoint preventable control inadequacies and prevent many undesirable outcomes from occurring.

The adrenalin rush

The knowledge of how the human brain operates under adrenalin-dumping stress separates Police Judo training from that of most martial arts, especially those steeped in rules of sport. We drill our students to respond in the safest manner possible while keeping focused, not just on the target, but on their surroundings. We place them under some stress; breath control is very important in calming the mind so that rational thought can occur and peak performances can be achieved.

Having a winning mindset is also an important aspect of our training, since it enhances environmental awareness. Proper training to handle stress prevents freezing up and reduces tunnel vision.

Which schools and martial arts styles train to preserve, or at worst, accommodate the loss of fine and complex motor skills by at least keeping their skills savagely simple? Will the drills that are practiced allow the ‘reptilian brain’ to react in a safe manner? Are the nasty things like eye gouging and biting woven into the fight training, or are these harsh lessons left aside as afterthoughts and nice-to-know information only to be sadly learned on the street?

The street can be a cruel teacher

The ‘fight or flight’ brain, which kicks in upon the onset of adrenalin rush (heart rates above 175 beats per minute), is incapable of rational thought. Officers will default to their training, regardless if it is ‘safe.’ Tales of officers stripping a gun from a suspect and subsequently handing it back or doing unneeded gun malfunction drills in a battle instead of returning fire result from unsafe training practices and/or improper mindsets.

Police Judo regularly incorporates environmental inoculation into very basic and common scenarios, making our training more meaningful and effective. We put our students in some degree of stress in the most likely situations, such as arresting a non-compliant drunk outside of a bar while bellicose belligerents and vociferous, antipolice, cell-phone toting paparazzi are leaving. Such external stressful influences can make an officer act inappropriately.

Self-defence in context

While Judo is the foundational basis for Police Judo, many of our techniques have originated from an eclectic blend of martial art styles; all techniques, regardless of origin, have been placed within a context outside the realm of sport, or ‘self-defence’ for that matter. ‘Defensive tactics’ for policing also includes a good offence, as police do not get paid to be victimized. Police officers should not be attacking people as if it were some kind of ‘contest,’ nor should they do so for the sole purpose of penalizing or harming them. Offenders must be controlled and taken into custody; deadly threats must be neutralized, using lethal force if necessary.

All police officers have as their main goal going home to their loved ones after each shift. There are some anti-police dimwits who feel that officers, when they don their uniforms, somehow trade their right to defend themselves with deadly force. They are so wrong. The focus of this series has not been to downplay the right of police to stop deadly threats, but rather to offer a multitude of great arrest and control tactic tools you can use to arrest resistive and assaultive parties as safely as possible (for both the officer and the arrestee).

If people die, it is usually the consequence of suspects’ refusal to co-operate and their willingness to use lethal force; by their own violent actions those forms of resistance can quickly ramp up necessary use of force to reasonably justifiable deadly levels.

Force with ethical vigour

As modern warriors and society’s guardians, learn what you can (and need) and toss the rest away. Be prepared to use force judiciously and with minimal risk to all involved – serve it up with ethical vigour. If you absolutely must, then stop the threat your opponent poses by whatever means is needed. Lend your even and compassionate hand to those who struggle through life but be ready to take on the predators who would harm the flock. Walk softly but carry a big stick; wear a velvet glove over an iron fist. Let your sense of profound professionalism be your warrior code; let each stroke of your dispassionately forceful but judicious hand be the public’s protective shield.

You carry a badge that you can choose to honour or dishonour; you can either polish or tarnish it through your actions and deeds. The force is with you. Will the public stand by and respect your actions? What will they look like on the six o’clock news or YouTube? What will your friends and family think?

Let your sense of ethics temper your blows; do not let the fury of your temper drive your actions. It is easy to be ethical when you are in control.

Learning the essence of Police Judo is a huge step in the right direction of seizing and controlling a person rather than beating them into submission. Its philosophical and ethical underpinnings, coupled with numerous streetsmart techniques and tactics, aim to put you in solid control over those who resist your policing mandate and would do us all harm.

Al Arsenault is a former Vancouver police officer and a co-founded Odd Squad Productions. He currently specializes in teaching police combatives through his co-founding of Police Judo in 2010, is writing a book on Police Judo and teaching the essent…

Al Arsenault is a former Vancouver police officer and a co-founded Odd Squad Productions. He currently specializes in teaching police combatives through his co-founding of Police Judo in 2010, is writing a book on Police Judo and teaching the essentials of this new martial art to police across North America. He can be contacted at oddsquadder@gmail.com

Toby Hinton A 23-year veteran of the Vancouver Police Department, Sergeant Toby Hinton heads up Squad 5 of the Beat Enforcement Team. Patrolling the streets of the Downtown Eastside on foot, Toby keeps close ties with a community that is not always easy to serve and protect. He can be contacted at oddsquadder@gmail.com

Thank you letter from Yo Bro/Yo Girl Youth Initiative

Dear Police Judo Team, 

On behalf of Yo Bro/Yo Girl Youth Initiative I would like to thank you for your generous gift. Your commitment to helping support youth in our community is sincerely appreciated.

Each year Yo Bro/Yo Girl Youth Initiative continues to advance its purpose to create a community where every youth feels valued, respected, successful, and resilient. Through our programs, we have seen many lives changed for the better.

The goal of the Yo Bro/Yo Girl Youth Initiative is to continue to make a difference in the lives of youth. With the help of donations from supporters such as yourselves we will continue to see increases in the number of students who are able to participate fully in our programs.

Thanks again for your generous support of our efforts to provide much need programming for our most vulnerable youth and their families.

Best wishes,

Joe Calendino
Executive Director
Yo Bro/Yo Girl Youth Initiative

“For vulnerable youth, resiliency is the ability to overcome adverse circumstances in order to live full, rewarding lives.  A key to doing so is the support provided by at least one caring and committed adult. Joe Calendino and the Yo Bro/Yo Girl program ensure that each student in their care, regardless of circumstances, receives unconditional support needed for success -- today, tomorrow and for years to come.”  Educator – Downtown Lower Eastside

Blue Line Article: Police Judo - Part 3

Police Judo - Part 3   
"Where Realism Meets the Road"  
by Toby Hinton and Al Arsenault

(this article was published on Blue Line Magazine in May 2016)

download original

Judo founder Jigoro Kano took the unsafe and destructive techniques meant for the battlefield from the plethora of jujutsu styles that existed in 1882. He added mats on which to practice, thereby making judo training safe for everyone.

Kano would likely applaud our removing the non-sporting and potentially injurious elements of judo and adapting them for police use in the no referees or mats venue of the street, especially in light of his precept of “mutual welfare and benefit.”

With Police Judo we have effectively transferred a level of care out of the training hall and onto the street. After all, no one deserves to be needlessly or roughly manhandled by police, especially the drugged, drunk, enraged or mentally ill, who are more often fighting themselves. The more dispassionate an officer can be when applying force, the better the outcome at all levels. That said, police are not paid to be punching bags or sacrificial lambs. Using force is clearly required. There has never been a greater need for accountability in police use of force, which is so often captured on video. There was no harsher testing grounds for using force than in the relatively violent and lawless streets of Vancouver’s Skid Road.

The goal of Police Judo is to train our students on how to safely take into custody those who have little regard for themselves or the officers lawfully depriving them of their liberty. As with any difficult job, you can get it done in a more efficient and professional manner if you have the right tools. We credit our well-stocked tactical tool box for having maximal effect while using minimal effort and destructiveness to affect our purpose. No officer is beyond the touch of evil but if one follows good tactics, has great technique and stays focused, the job can be a relatively low-risk profession (at least in Canada, where there is far less gun play!).

Street smarts

There is ‘dojo smart’ and ‘street smart’ private training available for police before and after they graduate. Realistic (non-sport) training is rather uncommon. Many non-police martial arts instructors haven’t had to deal with the tough and crazy people who routinely confront officers.

As police, we have all experienced hairy situations and many of us are still alive — and even sport all of our teeth! We have all had our share of lucky breaks but the rest comes from using superior tactics and techniques. Sadly, some of our brothers and sisters never live to tell their tales. There’s not much you can do if a bullet has your name on it. You can, and we say must, deal with the ones marked “To whom it may concern.” This is accomplished through diligent, long-term and realistic training. We began shunning traditional clubs as we grew in experience as beat cops, preferring to look for critical innovations and practical applications within the various martial arts we were involved in. Police Judo is not a martial art that requires the student to adapt classical dojo technique for use in the midst of a street brawl.

We have made the modifications for you. We found ourselves tripping over traditionalism, convention and impracticality, much inbred by the rules of sport and taught by instructors who hadn’t regularly dealt with violent offenders within the guidelines of the National Use of Force Framework. They could surmise or extrapolate about the nature of street violence but few had ever tested their skills and techniques on sweaty, bloody, dirty, infectious, chemically-crazed, mentally ill, street-wise, hardened criminals — or even angry drunks, for that matter.

Few have had to deal with drug-addicted people who had little to lose by biting off a piece of flesh, pushing you down stairs or knifing or shooting you just because you were doing your job. Fewer still have had to justify their use of force later in a court of law.

Realism vs idealism

So how does that single one-shot, one-kill, punch to the head work again after you’ve broken a tooth with your now-busted knuckles, possibly rendering your hand incapable of manipulating your desperately needed gun out of its level-three security holster?

How painful is that infectious bite to your forearm when you have a suspect in a head lock? How debilitating is it when an unseen buddy bottles your head from behind while in that dark and unfriendly laneway? How badly do you “blow a chip” when you get spat on while loading a drunk into the wagon? How does it feel to be shot through a door, swarmed by assailants or get run over by a car because some criminals had outstanding warrants or were doing something illegal that would see them jailed?

Maybe you lose teeth from a head butt that you never saw coming or break a leg when pushed in front of a moving car by a person in handcuffs. Over and above surviving, for those engaging in physical training, how does your current martial arts schooling or fitness regimen get you closer to putting handcuffs on a tough guy?

More questions worth pondering should include how ‘dojo smarts’ (and the consequences of ‘losing’) stack up against the ugly realities encountered on the street. How has your training prepared you to deal with the adrenaline rush, get you back into the fight when injured or stare down and handle the ugly face of unfettered (and at times, unimaginable) violence? What drill is the ‘reptilian brain’ screaming at you to do under high stress? What happened to your fine and complex motors skills when you needed them the most — to save your own life or that of a hapless victim?

The world of sport is a fantastic pursuit for those not putting themselves in harm’s way on the street. We are advising trainers to consider preparing police recruits and officers for the projected and guaranteed violent eventualities. Functional and tactically sound techniques and drills, not ‘art’ and ‘sport’ forms of fighting, are the much-needed remedies for violence.

Teaching ‘sport fighting’ and then insisting that students somehow make the requisite adaptations to gain physical control over criminal suspects may leave them a little unprepared to enter the law enforcement arena. In reality, hard arrests are often done under extreme stress and hopefully within the bounds, or legal parameters, of the Criminal Code.

Police need street-proven combative and controlling forms of pugilism steeped in practicality and legal reasonableness. Tools forged from the fires of reality-based practical training allow officers the best chance of ethically handling the situations that they will likely encounter on the street. It’s easy to be ethical when you are in control.

No ref, no rules

The difference between sport and street is huge. Some say that the Ultimate Fight Championship (UFC) is tantamount to a street fight. Although the players are extremely fit and often talented individuals, these modern gladiators rely on rules and referees to enforce them for their ‘survival’ in the ring. There are currently 31 rules and faults in UFC matches prohibiting eye gouging, biting, head butting and fish-hooking, not to mention requiring the wearing of protective gloves, adhering to weight classes and only permitting one-onone contests.

None of these rules apply to a true street fight, where an offender’s objective may very well be to kill or grievously injure an officer or civilian. Deadly force may be used in these cases to stop such a lethal threat. If there were no enforceable rules in the UFC then few would want to enter what could essentially be a death match.

Street fights are not determined by those who accumulate the most ‘points’ or on decisions by referees (or judges).

The outcome is the result of one party conceding defeat (which may not guarantee the fight ends) or both parties withdrawing (which still may not ensure the fight is done if others wish to get involved). Often a fight ends when one party cannot defend through injury, incompetence or intervention by other parties (friends, concerned citizens or persons in authority like the police). Some fights end because one or both parties are killed, especially when weapons are introduced into the fracas.

Every single day police officers collectively enter a ruthless arena where opponents may respect no rules of morality nor adhere to any kind of ethical use-of-force guidelines. Police (and some criminals) wear body armour to help minimize the deadly threats posed to their vital organs by knives and firearms.

Police officers must carry weapons and use back-up officers, if available, to help control extremely violent offenders. They must use reasonable force under very stressful do-ordie conditions requiring split-second critical analyses and action.

Physical altercations are subject to long microscopic dissections in criminal and civil courts and internal reviews and seemingly endless one-sided media hype. What type of force was used and was it done in good faith? Is the amount of force used objectively reasonable, subjectively justifiable and obviously necessary? Officers can be sent to jail for their actions so articulating how and why force was used is extremely important.

Role of sport

We know that functional fitness and physical literacy is critical to develop basic movements. A foundation in traditional judo basics and movement (or sport and athleticism in general) will assist with the layering of Police Judo tactics and techniques.

However, it is important to recognize that the purpose of a sport-based model (often focused on competition) is different than a training-based model like Police Judo (focused on preparing students to use force as a part of their job).

However, these are not mutually exclusive domains, and the law enforcement officer with a classical background in traditional judo can easily adopt and implement a recreational Police Judo program for training.

We find it helpful when teaching to distinguish between a sport and a law enforcement technique. If we are to believe that an individual will perform under pressure as they train, we want to ensure that we provide students with blueprinting available and accessible under stress. Techniques, drills and the training program need to be regularly reviewed to ensure the correct balance between developing basic movement and judo skills. The added ability to fuse force options techniques and carry the training through to an arrest and control conclusion is a major strength of our style.

Without the requisite non-competitive judo skill development, breakfall competency and basic movement proficiency, one runs the risk of creating a “fight club” environment where injuries will probably occur and membership will likely shrink. A regular canvassing of students involved with Police Judo training finds that fitness is one of the top priorities, and as a result, the workouts need to be physically challenging while keeping the training environment at low-risk for injury. Developing a strong judo base will reduce injuries in training and on the street.

Mutual welfare and benefit

Police Judo emphasizes Kano’s philosophy of “mutual welfare and benefit” (respect) by caring for one’s partner in training. As the student’s judo skills develop, respective tactical skills will be more surely acquired and reasonably applied.

A strong foundation in judo also helps provide a template for belt grading and promotion within the style. This kind of extrinsic motivator helps retain students over and above reaping the obvious benefits of developing a functional form of fitness.

Indeed, establishing a healthy martial artsbased lifestyle is very desirable for the law enforcement officer for a multitude of reasons, including keeping fighting fit.

One can assume that there are no rules when training in Police Judo but we do respect the obvious limitations of not hurting your training partner. For an extra dose of realism, you can stick your fingers into your training partner’s eyes but don’t push them in too far and be extra careful with those wearing contacts! Pull that pony tail! Watch out for biters!

The streets can be too unforgiving to be careless about how you ‘do the drill’ even with something as simple as standing up in a tactical manner. Focus on developing training which will allow you to take the least risky, most effective and ethically correct actions that can be done under dire circumstances. Showing each other’s failures on the mat will pay off when techniques are executed effectively on the street. Complacency in training, or a lack of street-proofing, could cost you or someone else their life.

Functional fitness

It has been said that the best educated person is the one who knows the most about the world in which they live. Many post-secondary institutions are churning out graduate after graduate in Criminology and Police Studies programs with little to no emphasis on developing basic physical literacy relating to use of force. Functional fitness and developing skills one can draw on during the adrenalin rush in the heat of battle demands proper training.

Police Judo should not be regarded only as a certification course but rather a lifestyle. By introducing training early, developing it as a low risk and life-long recreational training program, our hope is to expand the reach of Kano’s philosophy of mutual benefit and welfare into the world of law enforcement, pre-career, on the job and even into retirement.

Blue Line Article: Police Judo - Part 2

Police Judo - Part 2  
"The Art of Ownership"  
by Al Arsenault

(this article was published on Blue Line Magazine in April 2016)

Some of the techniques in police Judo have been altered to give the officer maximal advantage while enhancing the safety of the suspect being apprehended. Some techniques are great for sport use but horribly useless and even dangerous for the realities faced on the street. 

Police officers are duty-bound to follow a moral code of conduct — criminals are not. Our Canadian Criminal Code offers guidelines on reasonable use of force. It must be articulated as being both reasonable in the totality of the circumstances at hand and proportionate in its application. 

The courts take note of the relative interpersonal and environmental factors between officer and offender. Simply put, police officers have a duty to care, even for those who are trying to hurt them. Their assailants are not bound by any ethical or moral constraints in trying to harm an officer or the public. 

Predators are mainly accountable, if apprehended, to the criminal courts for their actions; it is the job of police to capture them in a humane way, without being punitive, and see that they face the requisite justice. 

A primary goal of Police Judo is to strive for immediate, continuous and effective control over an arrestee. This process is commonly referred to as ‘taking ownership’ over a person — to handcuff a resistive person, for example, you first must ‘own’ them. This is easier said than done. 

It has been said that an officer cannot handcuff someone who refuses to be shackled — but suspects who fight the handcuffing process are not set free, of course. Multiple officers can work together to achieve this difficult task. 

Owning a person is the initial but critical step in making a physical arrest. Officers who unwittingly give up a controlling hand by brandishing the handcuffs before making physical contact make the process much more difficult. They hope the cuffs will somehow find their way to the suspects’ wrists, and that the mere placement of a handcuff on one wrist will take away their fight. It seldom works this way. 

After the altercation is over, the handcuffs are usually not where they should be for easy access –— on the belt — but rather inadvertently cast aside when both hands were needed to take control over the violently struggling (if not attacking) arrestee. It is very difficult to close the gap and own someone with only a single hand. 

Unlike drawing in preparation for an anticipated shooting some officers erroneously conclude they are actually one step ahead if they pull out their handcuffs prior to taking ownership of a violent party. In reality, they have only handicapped themselves. 

It is not enough to use Police Judo just to defend yourself. Violent people must still be taken into custody using a reasonable amount of force after an assault has been initiated, thwarted or repelled. Nor do the rules of sport apply, as the crook doesn’t have to follow any rules. 

Still, the officer must adhere to a code of conduct on the criminal, civil and agency levels of accountability. Even the media holds some sway, as many officers have been unfairly vilified in the press by anyone with a mouth big enough to capture the attention of sensation-seeking media during the predictable, but often necessary, pre-trial period of ‘no comment’ silence. 

Handcuffing 

 There is no perfect martial art for policing and no one good way of taking custody over a person. How this delicate dance is done depends on the actions and skills of your arrestee and your own physical traits, skills and street experience. 

 All we can do as trainers is to strip martial arts styles, such as Judo, of their sport-driven, less-effective, non-street-worthy techniques and blend them together with solid arrest and control tactics for full effect. It is important to have a functionally effective box of tools. 

 The goal of the arrest process should be to take control over non-compliant arrestees in an ethical manner to safely handcuff them. 

 Many police tactics books show some neat-looking arrest techniques but simply gloss over the part where the suspect has to be handcuffed. This is because the transition to cuffing is awkward, inefficient or just plain difficult (and even unsafe) to attempt. Police Judo meets this challenge by dealing with the ‘most likely’ of street arrest scenarios while leading officers directly into safe handcuffing practices. The training is very practical and directly relevant to policing. 

 Few practicing Judo players will ever make the Olympic team; fewer still will be in a high-violence vocation which requires them to refine their techniques on the street, and only a handful of these martial artists will ever join a police department. Police Judo has made those refinements for police. It is ripe for further development and wide dissemination. 

 We can change the police training culture or climate by focusing on younger people who want to, or recently have, entered law enforcement. Judo as a base martial art provides a strong foundation for the more complex arrest and control skills that will be layered in and practiced recreationally as a safe training program with little to no risk of injury. 

 The throws and trips that we practice are not to acquire tournament points or to be used for punitive purposes. Rather, they are executed to put resistive or combative arrestees into the prone handcuffing position or otherwise control them by placing them into the standing compliant handcuffing position. Punching and kicking too are part of the Police Judo arsenal. Other techniques are used to initially capture disorderly parties and escort them to a safe environment for handcuffing. 

 Holding vs Controlling 

 There is an important distinction between ‘holding’ and ‘controlling’ a person. Holding is just that — grabbing without any regards to immobilizing them, as with a painful joint lock. It does not effectively reduce escapes or attacks on you or others nearby. 

 In the most basic untrained police sense, ‘making a collar’ (grabbing offenders by the scruff of the neck) is merely attempting to keep them from running away. If they choose to punch or kick you, you could affect their balance and possibly push them to the ground (or even disengage) but it is a relatively ineffective, riskier and more inefficient means to lay hands on someone. 

 The best place to grab, if you have only one hand free and want to have a good chance of avoiding an assault, is the sleeve just above the back of the elbow. You may actually grab the arm at this same place with one or both hands (especially if the suspect is shirtless). 

 You may also grab using the well-known side-by-side escort grip, using your nearhand at the elbow and other hand at the wrist. Whatever the perp does to attack you, you ‘punch’ (strongly push) their elbow in the direction against their launching attack to nullify its power. 

 Sweeping suspects off their feet, taking them down, launching your own striking attack, placing them in an arm lock or disengaging are all available options while you occupy the pugilistic ‘blind spot’ (beside and slightly behind the front plane of the body). 

 Continuous control is stressed because perps will sense a lapse of control, even if it’s momentarily, realize they’re about to lose their liberty and act in their own best interests. Once the pain train has begun, it must be maintained through a seamless series of techniques applied as to give a perp no opportunity to gain the upper hand. Easing up on joint pressure could give them room to escape or attack you, leading to more violence on both sides of the arrest process. 

 Poor techniques and tactics lead to what is essentially police-precipitated violence — the parent causes of many unnecessary and excessive use-of-force complaints. Certainly the loss of control over a suspect will lengthen a physical altercation; the longer it takes to own someone, the greater the chance of an injury occurring on both sides of the fence. 

 Arrestees will more readily listen to your commands to co-operate, not with their ears, but rather through the application of a pain-inducing joint lock or pressure point. Indeed, for those capable of feeling, the strategic and controlled application of pain is universally understood. 

Al Arsenault is a former Vancouver police officer and a co-founded Odd Squad Productions. He currently specializes in teaching police combatives through his co-founding of Police Judo in 2010, is writing a book on Police Judo and teaching the essentials of this new martial art to police across North America.
Al Arsenault will be leading a session during the Blue Line Conference in April. Visit www.blueline.ca for more details or to register.


 Coming up in next issues:

 PART THREE — Where Realism Meets the Road

• Accountability
• Street Smarts
• Realism vs Idealism
• No Ref, No Rules

PART FOUR — Training For Effect

• Going to the Ground
• Keeping it Savagely Simple
• The Adrenaline Rush

Blue Line Article: Police Judo - Part 1

Police Judo - Part 1  
"A new martial art is born"  
by Al Arsenault

(this article was published on Blue Line Magazine in March 2016)

Police Judo is a new martial art created by and for police. The police careers of the authors have spanned more than half a century, much of it spent patrolling "skid road," and we spent more than 70 years studying various martial arts. 
 
Our training hall was located at the old police station gym by Main and Hastings ('Pain and Wastings') squarely within this festering and squalid neighbourhood. Our police gym was a sterile and clinical setting amidst a cesspool of crime, drug and alcohol addiction, mental illness, poverty and general depravity that almost defies human imagination. 
 
With personal arrest rates topping 1,100 per year (not including picking up drunks), this physically tough beat proved at times to be a highly volatile crucible of carnage and chaos. Superior control tactics were a necessity in this horribly depressed neighbourhood, a shark-infested gutter of atrocities and antipolice activism. The decent and downtrodden constantly fight to exist and police help them to do so under very trying and challenging circumstances. 
 
Police judo was not created as a type of fighting per se but as a means to take resistive and combative people into custody using as little brute force as possible. The practical and innovative assimilation and fusion of ancient Judo techniques (grabbing, unbalancing, throwing/tripping, etc.) with modern police arrest and control tactics (joint locks, takedowns and throws) assists the handcuffing process. 
 
Some of the techniques are new but most have been altered and modified from existing martial arts specifically for police use. Students do not learn a martial art that must be adapted for use on the street. We strive to keep all vestiges of sporting applications, convention and traditionalism out of our training, as ' street' and ' sport' do not safely mix. Police Judo is a street-proofed martial art designed to ethically control those being arrested with minimal risk to all parties involved. 
 

The need for Police Judo

According to StatsCan (2008), 70 per cent of assaults against peace officers typically involved other offences like obstruction of a peace officer (36 per cent), level one assault (21 per cent), uttering threats (18 per cent), mischief (14 per cent), failure to comply with a disposition (11 per cent) and breach of probation (nine per cent). Only 14 per cent of these assaults involved a weapon and only one per cent of all assaults resulted in the officer needing medical attention. 
 
There were about 3,600 cases of assault against peace officers in adult court in 2006/2007, so impactful assaults are not rare events. 
 
We introduced all Washington state police use-of-force trainers to Police Judo in May 2014. A US border agent laughed when we explained the purpose of our trip, noting that that's why they carry guns and pepper spray; he essentially felt that hands-on training was redundant. Perhaps from his caged perch he could see no real reason for developing such skills. Try policing our skids with that kind of attitude, we thought- he wouldn't last a week. 
 
It seems that 'gadget reliance' is outstripping the perceived need to cultivate solid arrest and control tactics. We are offering, in many cases, best-practice techniques and tactics for use in the field. Our way is not the only way but our arrest and control tactics have been adapted and altered through the trials and errors of extensive 'field testing.' 
 
The techniques have often been executed under extreme and harsh conditions that the criminal-minded, drug and alcohol induced, psychotic or mentally ill have laid out at our feet like physical and emotional land mines - or thrown into our faces like virtual vats of acid. The hard-won and sage experience offered in this training is coming from those who have dealt with high volume arrest rates over many collective decades of beat policing. 
 
Police Judo was not merely born out of the creative juices of seasoned martial artists sitting around the edges of a mat pontificating about what violence is like; rather it was forged from the fires of violence and even fear itself. The crime rates are off the CompStat charts in this besotted neighbourhood; the high rate of violence in particular typifies the nature of policing such a ghettoized neighbourhood. 
 
This is not weekend warrior or sleepy hollow, speculative stuff- this is top-notch use-offorce training coming from battle-hardened veterans of the meanest streets of Vancouver. 
 
Police Judo aims to fulfill a basic need which today's street policing demands: 'peace officers' taking people safely into custody to prevent crime and restore peace to society. With the unprecedented degree of social media oversight coupled with anti-police activism (blue lives matter!), society at large is crying for the ethical use of force.   

Objective

Our goal in creating Police Judo is to give officers great tools to keep everyone involved as safe as possible during and even after the handcuffing process. It uses finesse and superior tactics over brawn and brute force. There is no need for unfettered, unethical violence merely because you can do so, legitimately or not. 
 
Fortunately, the vast majority of police officers conduct themselves in a highly professional manner. Those who do 'go caveman' on a person resisting their control are not necessarily 'bad' officers, rather their 'bag of tricks ' is sadly lacking or they are unable to deal with the adrenaline rush that comes with the rough stuff. 
 
They lash out with batons, boots, and bare fists because their arrest and control repertoire is severely limited in scope and largely driven by fear; they flounder because their toolboxes are tragically devoid of useful and effective tools, ones which could put them emotionally and physically in control of potentially violent situations. 
 
It is easy to be ethical when you are in control of a situation. An officer needs skills far beyond firearms training (and even those involving other belt tools) to take people into custody. Using force is all about the context where it is used; it must be reasonable, not merely minimal, to be justified. The days of the dark back alley are over; they're now well lit and likely to have video cameras. 

Ethical use of force

The philosophical base for Police Judo is unlike that of most striking martial arts in that our goal is not to destroy but to control the opponent; grappling arts accentuate limb control but with the goal of getting an opponent to submit as an end in itself. We concentrate on techniques that are 'low-risk' and ' high-yield' in nature, thereby providing a strong ethical base for our use-of-force options. 
 
The opponent drives the level of force used in any physical altercation; the type and duration of the resistance offered dictates how long and strong such requisite force is applied. The altercation ends when: 1. offenders choose to comply and submit to the officer 's attempts to gain control and handcuff them as part of a lawful arrest or, 2. they are forced into handcuffs. 
 
In some cases officers are defending against an outright attack; otherwise they are using force to thwart physical resistance by those being handcuffed. Such a demanding task requires great tactics, considerable skill (both solely and as a partnership/team) and a finesse that may not be totally appreciated by the viewing public nor trumped by cute dojo tactics. 
 
We do not enter into (rule-bound) competitions, do patterns (kata or forms), nor are we too interested in 'art form' techniques that are merely pretty to look at or fanciful and complex in application. Most martial arts clubs do not encourage using their skills on the street except for self-defence. We expect our students to make good use of their skills, primarily if they are acting in a law enforcement role. 

Training is key

Police officers, corrections staff, security personnel, loss prevention officers, doormen and others have all related how well the ethical application of Police Judo techniques have served them. They understand that under stress, officers will perform as they are trained; the building of a sound tactical base, while incorporating effective techniques into realistic training, is an essential skill to have in the real world of law enforcement. 
 
Performing detailed scenario-based training is ideal but if time and resources do not permit, then emphasizing 'best practice' and practicing 'most-likely' effective aspects of arrest and control tactics can be done on the cheap. Indeed, simulation-based training tries to replicate situations likely to be encountered on the street - this is an effective way to train. 
 
Any takedowns on the mats can be turned into mini-scenarios through the creativity of the instructor. For example, assailant(s) can be sent in to test the tactics of students performing mock arrests and subsequent handcuffing. If students choose to disengage, do they continue watching the assailant? How do they deal with multiple assailants? Do they watch their partner's back? Do they speak effectively and show a strong command (force) presence? 
 
Injury rates tend to climb if students are allowed to train full-on combatively in a competitive manner; realism includes, and incurs, injuries. Special care must be taken to protect trainees whose future and current careers depend on being injury free. That said, we have no rules except to care for your partner. 
 
Care and concern extends onto the street with people that we are duty-bound to deal with. 

Al Arsenault is a former Vancouver police officer and a co-founded Odd Squad Productions. He currently specializes in teaching police combatives through his co-founding of Police Judo in 2010, is writing a book on Police Judo and teaching the essentials of this new martial art to police across North America. 

Al Arsenault will be conducting a lecture and training session at the Blue Line Conference in April. Visit www.blueline.ca for more details or to register.

Coming up soon: 

PART TWO

• Police Judo - Continuous Control
• The Art of Ownership
• Handcuffing
• Holding vs Controlling

PART THREE

• Police Judo - Where Realism Meets the Road
• Accountability
• Street Smarts
• Realism vs Idealism
• No Ref, No Rules

PART FOUR

• Police Judo - Training For Effect
• Going to the Ground
• Keeping it Savagely Simple
• The Adrenaline Rush

 

BCCLA article about Police Judo

In praise of police judo

Police Judo

JUDO, THE GENTLE WAY

During law school, I contemplated going on to do a Master’s Degree in Criminology at Oxford. I even pitched the head of the department with a thesis proposal: Police Judo. My thesis would be about how judo is effective in reducing violence in police encounters. The Criminology degree was a road not taken, but I remained convinced that ‘ju-do’ (‘the gentle way’) should play an important role in police use-of-force.

Turns out, some members of the Vancouver Police Department had exactly the same idea 20-some years ago. The evolution of their work and thinking has created a judo-based program that incorporates elements of other marital arts, and is designed specifically as a practical toolkit for police use-of-force encounters.

And how is this a civil liberties issue? Simply put, police accountability for their use of force is central to the mission of civil liberties. Of course we want oversight and review of reports of excessive use of force by police. But even more critically, we want police to use appropriate force in the first place. The BCCLA is deeply interested in how police are trained in use-of-force and prepared to advocate for any program that we think ‘gets it right’. I’ve had a look at one of the three Police Judo clubs in the Lower Mainland. And I think they really get it right.

POLICE JUDO OBSERVED

I went to observe an introductory class held at SFU. Some of the differences between traditional judo and Police Judo were immediately evident, starting from no bowing and no Japanese words. But one of the key differences is that Police Judo is non-competitive. Anyone who registers can attend (you don’t have to be a member of the police) and it’s a great workout and way to learn self-defence. But Police Judo is not a sport you can compete in. You can achieve higher ranks based on your knowledge and skill, but there are no tournaments. The focus is on learning the techniques and taking care of the person you are working with, not beating them.

Police Judo session at SFU

Police Judo introductory class held at SFU. BCCLA Policy Director Micheal Vonn in front row in black.

After a big group warm-up and series of exercises, the class I attended broke into two groups. One group did more traditional judo, learning how to do breakfalls and throws. The other group did more policing-specific exercises and concentrated on control skills, like joint manipulation techniques, to safely take someone to the ground during an altercation. After, the groups came together for a final session, which involved a policing scenario, so the participants could try using the techniques in a closer-to-real-life context.

While ending a fight/attack is undoubtedly something that police are called upon to do, the essence of effective and ethical use of force is to avoid the fight in the first place. The Police Judo website notes that the process of trying to bring a person into custody is generally the time of highest risk for violence in police encounters. So the instructors were constantly pointing out how, for example, holding a person’s arm one way gives them enough room to swing around with a kick, but changing the hold can prevent that happening. Everyone’s safer when the fight is avoided.

PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE

Policy Director, Micheal Vonn, with her judo club, back in the feathered bangs era.

Policy Director, Micheal Vonn, with her judo club, back in the feathered bangs era.

But don’t police learn these critically important techniques in basic policing training? Well, some, but not all, and maybe not effectively. It’s one thing to be shown some techniques and another to have them so engrained that you can and will actually use them. Police Judo recognizes that this learning needs to be on-going. Regular practice is what’s required to have the techniques effectively available in real-life, chaotic, high-stress encounters. Reacting appropriately in an instant is almost impossible if you have to think through the steps, as opposed to responding in a way that is practically automatic because the movement pattern is so well established. Practice doesn’t make perfect, necessarily. But practice makes possible what otherwise gets overridden by stress and fear responses. The establishment of Police Judo clubs allows for this practice to be developed early, by recruits and applicants, and refined over years of police service.

A DIFFERENT TOOLKIT IS NEEDED

One retired police officer was telling me that there is now so much gear/weapons that go on the standard officer tool belt that his daughter, who is now in the police force, hasn’t got a big enough waist to hold up the belt. As the National Use of Force Framework makes clear, there are times when use of a weapon is the appropriate police response. Police Judo is not about those times. It is about the infinitely more common, daily police encounters, often involving extremely vulnerable individuals, for which weapons are entirely the wrong answer and a vastly different toolkit is needed.

We congratulate the Law Enforcement Judo Association in making this innovative and important training available and we hope to see the Police Judo approach expand and become an acknowledged best practice in Canadian policing.

Original article on: bccla.org/2016/01/in-praise-of-police-judo

Police Judo Junior Program Overview 2015

Police Judo Junior Program Overview 2015


We hope you had a great Fall semester in 2015 with Police Judo.  It is hard to believe that we are fast approaching the start of 2016!

Starting in January 2016 the Police Judo Junior program will be a sanctioned Judo BC club. Students will have to be registered with Judo BC and belong to the Judo BC Association. This will allow for the opportunity to compete in tournaments, special camps and clinics, and will provide the insurance coverage for the programming. 

Over 20 years ago, our current Police Judo Association President Tim Laidler and the Tactical Training Centre Police Judo Head Instructor Brian Shipper were running Police Judo practices to a handful of committed police officers out of the old VPD gym at 312 Main St. In 2003 the Police Judo Junior Program started at the 312 Main St. Police Station gym, holding practices every Sunday morning. Now we are in our 12th consecutive year of running Junior Judo Programs (started with VPD Kids Judo, including Pleasantside Elementary Police Judo Juniors, Moody Middle Police Judo Juniors, Ray Cam Judo, and currently the SFU Police Judo Junior program now offered 3 times a week).



The Junior program was developed through the instruction of Sgt. Toby Hinton, Chin-I Hsiang, Sgt. Mark Steinkampf (also helping deliver drug education and judo workshops in high schools) and later Sergei Zamjitski and Yoon Choi (currently running Ray Cam Community Centre judo). A new addition to the Police Judo Junior program is instructor Tak Izumi from Ishikawa Judo Club. He is now joined up with Police Judo and is helping instruct both seniors and juniors. Together with dedicated volunteers from the senior Police Judo program and in partnership with other agencies such as Yo Bro Youth Initiative (under the direction of Joe Calendino) the program has grown significantly. The volunteers assist with mat preparation, extra oversight for the Junior Judo classes in a fun and safe environment. 
 




In the summer of 2016 we will be entering into our fifth consecutive summer camp at SFU!

The Police Judo Summer camp highlights a variety of sports including track and field, soccer, wrestling, rugby, as well as linking judo to self defence training. The program is a whirlwind of sport activity on top of all the judo drills! The summer camp receives incredible support from our Police Judo senior belts and volunteer coaches. Police Judo black belt Paul Blundel is one of our key instructors for this program, taking annual leave every summer to help deliver the camp. Past guest instructors have included Naoko Mori (former silver medalist - Canadian Nationals), and Sandra Hewson from Kensington Judo Club.



In addition to the established Police Junior Judo programs, our instructors and volunteer coaches have delivered Police Judo training clinics at school presentations throughout BC and the N.W.T.The Police Judo Junior program is a recreationally-based program designed to help youth develop physical literacy, athletic ability, judo basics, and provides an introduction to the basic philosophy of judo: learning how to take care of one's partner. Students are introduced to partner drills, break falls, throws and groundwork.



The youth who grow and develop can progress into working out and training with the adult Police Judo classes, and for those interested there is the opportunity to practice competitive judo in a tournament setting (this is the focus of the Monday Advanced Police Junior Judo class, instructed by Tak Izumi and Chin-I Hsiang, along with some seniors and black belts from from Ishikawa Family Club). 



One of the new coaches for the Junior Judo Program is Dante St. Prix from Ishikawa Judo Club, a former national champion in judo. Please find attached a few photos highlighting the Police Judo Junior program over the years. It should be noted that some of the kids have grown up now – Launa Hinton started with VPD Kids Judo when she was 3 ½ years old. She is now a carded athlete on the Provincial Team for Judo and finished with a silver medal in the Nationals in 2015 in Quebec. She is pictured below with Migs Mercado who has been training and competing as well (with Abbotsford Judo) and is doing very well with Police Judo. Both Launa and Migs have qualified for the BC Winter Games for 2016. 



We are also pleased to see many of the former Police Judo members have progressed on to a law enforcement career. We hope to see the members not only enjoy our training, but also gain experience in skill development, fitness, volunteerism, leadership and friendship.
 


 
 



 
 
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