By Daniel Borunda
El Paso Times
EL PASO, Tx. — El Paso police are getting additional self-defense training in part because of the popularity of mixed martial arts, officials said Wednesday at the Police Academy.
Mixed martial arts is a combat sport using elements of boxing, kickboxing, wrestling and submission holds. Gyms in El Paso and across the world teach the sport, which has grown in popularity on television and pay-per-view matches.
“The criminal element is watching this and learning this,” said Lew Hicks, president of a self-defense training company contracted by the Police Department.
Hicks has 16 years of experience, and his system is used by police departments across the country. Hicks said criminals trained in mixed martial arts can be particularly dangerous if they are able to drop, grapple with and disarm a police officer.
Assistant Police Chief Peter Pacillas said Hicks Police Training System was contracted for three years at a cost of $241,000, which is paid with confiscated drug money.
“Everybody will be trained across the board,” Pacillas said.
During training Wednesday at the Police Academy, officers with plastic handguns wrestled on mats.
“This is not a sport,” Hicks yelled.
“Your life is in grave danger. Anybody who thinks it’s OK to take an officer to the ground, it is understood they will put the life of this officer in grave danger.”
Hicks said his system is more than just learning to fight. He said it will also test how officers react under stress, as well as how to deal with people, and how to use body language and verbal communication to defuse situations.
Training lasts three weeks and includes hours of homework. The system teaches officers to deal with armed and unarmed opponents but also has philosophical components.
“More than anything else, and the most powerful thing is the ability to treat the public with dignity and respect,” Hicks said. “They (police) will look at the good part of their hearts.”
Copyright 2010 El Paso Times, a MediaNews Group Newspaper