SEGUIN, Texas — Seguin Police officers are training in Gracie Survival Tactics, or GST. According to the program, it is a revolutionary defensive tactics system based on Gracie Jiu-Jitsu.
Lieutenant Cobey Crow said it is program that teaches Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
"We needed another tool on our tool belt," he said. "A lot of officers, if they don't have any background in martial arts, or boxing or anything, they are just reusing their own strength, their own force they have to use to take down a suspect."
Police said this program allows them to get technical and use non-violent methods.
"This is nothing but controlling the suspects," Crow said. "This is not a UFC class or MMA class with kicking and punching."
Crow said this is control manipulation techniques to ultimately get a suspect in handcuffs.
"The what ifs can be endless," he said. "These techniques can help the officers where one they control the suspects until backup arrives, or do the arrest by themselves.”
Seguin Police said officers use it all the time. In one cell phone video shared to KENS 5. It shows an officer taking down a suspect they say was involved in aggravated assault. Police said the suspect became confrontational with the officer and was reaching for his knife. Police said the officer took down the suspect using the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu techniques.
"It gives them more self-confidence to know that their hands that they can get something done," he said.
Seguin Police has six Gracie Survival Tactics instructors, and said four more are getting certified. The idea is to have a least one officer trained under this program on every shift.