USA Judo has launched a ground breaking new program aimed at professionalizing public policing by teaching officers how to utilize non-lethal judo techniques, body positioning and other subtleties to deescalate and if necessary subdue suspects without having to use a weapon.
The USA Judo P3 program was designed and is taught by highly regarded law enforcement training officers that are also elite judoka. Designed by law enforcement officers for law enforcement officers the program's goal is to share centuries proven judo techniques of "the gentle way" that will enable officers to be more confident in their own physical abilities with a mindset and instinct of "duty of care" when dealing with any member of the public. USA Judo has also partnered with the Police Athletics and Activities League (PAL) to bring the program full circle with the long term vision of utilizing the sport of judo as a vehicle to help develop a more holistic community relationship between the community and the police. The USA Judo P3 program offers pathways for law enforcement and the community to learn, practice and participate in the sport judo together. FRIENDSHIP, RESPECT, HONOR, COURAGE, COURTESY, HONESTY, MODESTY, SELF-CONTROL; these are the eight values of the judo moral code taught to every judoka from the first time they enter a dojo. Jigoro Kano, the founder of Kodokan Judo established the philosophy that achieving a state, of mutual trust and assistance, benefits both the Judo practitioner and society at large. The USA Judo P3 program is designed to teach the physical and also the Japanese martial arts’ concepts and philosophy of “Jita kyoei” (Mutual benefit) and “Seiyoku zenyo” (Maximum efficiency) to law enforcement as well as the public through PAL.
In 2019, USA Judo embarked on a journey to bring Judo training to the law enforcement community to create safer and more effective arrest and control techniques. As we witnessed several tragic events in 2020 related to inappropriate arrest and control techniques and unnecessary use of lethal force, USA Judo's P3 Task Force increased its efforts to create a solution to this societal problem in the United States.
HOW DOES IT WORK?