Standup Style for LEO/Corrections

It depends on whether you will be working in a prison or jail. This is how a one in one situation will go down. You will have your shit pushed in and when the cavalry arrive. You will get revenge on the perp. Or you will be blindsided and shanked. The best martial arts for prison is called respect.

It's a close-security state prison.

Being firm, fair, and consistent and a not-shitty CO is entirely separate from the subject of the the thread, however.
 
It's a close-security state prison.
I think it depends from prison and these inmates.
One guy that I know, had worked in plenty of positions: prison, private security team and street patrols.
He told that the worst job was job in street patrols.
There exactly offenders might be armed, on drugs and alco & pills etc, also they might have needles in pockets etc stuff.
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Prison, these inmates, it depends. Not all inmates are equal. Some are pretty smart guys.
If they might get extra term for offences in prison and knows that they might get out of prison even before full term served if they behave well, then ….
Also before court, if they had serious offences in prison before court, it isn't good for them in court.
Lawyers usually instruct them to be calm and not make problems, especially before court.
 
Hey everyone. First post in this sub.

With my schooling done and old jobs behind me, I'm finally pursuing my dream of a career in law enforcement this year. I'll be applying to work as either a Correctional Officer for the state prison system or Detention Officer for the local jail and later on I hope to branch out into community LE.

I've spoken to more than a few cops (current and former) in my time and a couple of them were martial arts practitioners who readily advocated the usefulness of knowing how to handle yourself on the job without use of one's tools, to say nothing of the videos floating around on YouTube of officer-involved brawls and the like.

Right now my primary focus is slimming my fat ass down and getting back into BJJ on a regular basis. However, in the future I absolutely would like to expand my horizons. A local gym offers classes in MMA as well as independent classes in Boxing and Muay Thai. I plan to continue BJJ and I'd like to at least get a taste of the MMA classes.

But I'm torn when it comes to the Boxing/Muay Thai. I'd be perfectly happy with either and scheduling conflicts may end up playing as much a role as anything, but all the same I wouldn't mind hearing your opinions on which style would be better in my context:
  • I'll be training for fitness, recreation, and self-defense. I have no plans to compete in boxing or kickboxing.
  • I love boxing and the idea of developing my hands. I think the defensive skills alone would be handy for on-the-job use.
  • My interest in Muay Thai is more selective, for lack of a better term. I really don't care for learning high kicks and the like, partly because my flexibility and balance are both frankly shit. However, low kicks and clinch work interest me immensely and at a glance at least would seem to complement my grappling?
I'm open to suggestions, anecdotes, whatever you guys have. I don't doubt most responses will be "try both and see which you like"... with good reason and this is absolutely something I plan to do.


I'd look to see if there is an all inclusive MMA gym in the area. Much better for real life scenarios.

Out of the two though, I'd definitely say Muay Thai. They aren't very focused on high kicks. They are more into clinch work. Of course this includes punches, knees, and elbows, but most importantly for your line of work, is a strong base and the ability to control opponents in close quarters. Not to mention boxing defensive styles aren't as effective without boxing gloves on.

Also, be wary of any "know it all" or "tough guy" gyms. There is still a lot of people ONLY in this for the money and while some of the techniques are legit, their whole model is ran like a scam.

Learn a good solid physical base like wrestling or judo. Not master it all of it. Just learn and practice the base stance and get competent in a couple takedowns. Same with stand up, look for and practice a couple basics. If you're not a pro fighter, a good solid base, even if it's very limited, is more than enough to deal with the average person.
 
None of them really matter if they aren't approved by your agency. Wrestling, BJJ, and Judo have their merits based on the idea that you'll be able to better control another human being who is being defiant. However, you start knee barring people who are actively or passively resisting and you won't have a job for long.
 
None of them really matter if they aren't approved by your agency. Wrestling, BJJ, and Judo have their merits based on the idea that you'll be able to better control another human being who is being defiant. However, you start knee barring people who are actively or passively resisting and you won't have a job for long.

The submissions themselves might not be approved by the agency (the RNC in particular is the boogeyman of law enforcement DT), but there's plenty of utility to be had simply understanding the fundamentals of grappling (solid base, wrist control, frames, etc.) and being able to restrain a person who is actively trying not to be restrained.
 
At first the probem is not be properly hit buy offender, sucker punched or/ and kicked or worse, stabbed or cut etc. :(
Then later is question how to restrain etc.
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LEO and security agencies still more likely will prefer grappling than to have offender with beated face etc stuff.
Safespace doesn't likes that judges see beated up offenders.
These agencies etc does have syllabus, usually.
Also courses etc.
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I'd look to see if there is an all inclusive MMA gym in the area. Much better for real life scenarios.

Out of the two though, I'd definitely say Muay Thai. They aren't very focused on high kicks. They are more into clinch work. Of course this includes punches, knees, and elbows, but most importantly for your line of work, is a strong base and the ability to control opponents in close quarters. Not to mention boxing defensive styles aren't as effective without boxing gloves on.

Also, be wary of any "know it all" or "tough guy" gyms. There is still a lot of people ONLY in this for the money and while some of the techniques are legit, their whole model is ran like a scam.

Learn a good solid physical base like wrestling or judo. Not master it all of it. Just learn and practice the base stance and get competent in a couple takedowns. Same with stand up, look for and practice a couple basics. If you're not a pro fighter, a good solid base, even if it's very limited, is more than enough to deal with the average person.
i talked to a cop I train and he says LEO stay away from Muay Thai and the clinch because you can easily lose sight/track of what someone’s hands are doing
 
The submissions themselves might not be approved by the agency (the RNC in particular is the boogeyman of law enforcement DT), but there's plenty of utility to be had simply understanding the fundamentals of grappling (solid base, wrist control, frames, etc.) and being able to restrain a person who is actively trying not to be restrained.
Submissions at the end of the day are just icing on the cake, the main thing about BJJ is control of your opponent where you can lay down whatever your choosing.

I'd stick with the MMA gym, while its good to train with specialists, with MMA you'll have the opportunity to blend them together, and thats where holes pop up all over from either striking or grappling. There's lots in BJJ as well that would get you smashed in MMA, been on the receiving end of that, and have dished it out as well.

Overall (just in theory since I'm not a LEO and I don't know how wild it is on the day to day so I'm only guessing) I would focus on a judo/BJJ priority with boxing second type game.
 
Most control you would get from grappling would be learned from wrestling or judo, not bjj. Bjj doesn't really teach standup grappling like the other two. If you're talking about control on the ground, that's still the domain of wrestling. Control is not a strength of bjj, especially when compared to other grappling styles. Most of what bjj is good for is not appropriate in this context, which is why TS stated his need to add another style or two to his current skillset (which is already bjj).
 
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