Controlled F.O.R.C.E.

S.W.A.T. Training

Building Team Skills for
the High Risk Environment

On January 24, 2008, Controlled F.O.R.C.E. Directors/Instructors Tony Grano and Don Roberts provided 16 officers of the Fifth District SWAT Team with Close Range Subject Control training. The Fifth District SWAT Team is comprised of officers from eight police agencies in the Southwest Suburbs of Chicago, IL. The unit maintains 26 members who are specifically trained to respond to high risk armed offender situations and hostage barricade events.

Instructors Grano and Roberts delivered M.A.C.H.-based subject control training modified to the SWAT operating environment. M.A.C.H., which stands for Mechanical Advantage Control Holds, establishes the foundation of Controlled F.O.R.C.E. training systems. The M.A.C.H. techniques provides SWAT operators with an effective set of tools for controlling non-compliant or combative subjects they encounter in high risk situations. More important, the techniques enable operators to handle immediate threats in a way that keeps the team moving forward toward its objective.
 

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The Fifth District SWAT Team members participating in the training found that the M.A.C.H. techniques are both easy to learn and effective for subduing subjects. Assistant Team Leader Frank Lacny observed that “even the members with the least amount of fighting skill were able to grasp and apply the techniques fairly quickly.” By utilizing gross motor skills, leverage, and inertia, the M.A.C.H. techniques put all team members on equal footing for controlling subjects, regardless of each team member’s prior training, skill, strength, and experience.

The overall goal of the training session was to provide the team members with a common set of skills for maintaining situational control as a cohesive team unit. Along with the standard M.A.C.H. techniques of control holds, takedowns, and handcuff positioning, Grano and Roberts delivered program enhancements that included team searching techniques, team subject control tactics in confined spaces, and seated pickup drills for keeping injured team members in the game and moving.

In addition to helping team members develop dynamic arrest control skills and team tactics, the training made some team members realize that they have let their physical conditioning slide a little. “Hopefully this course will motive all of you to strive to be the best you can be physically, mentally, and as a unified team,” said instructor Don Roberts at the end of training. That is, after all, the mission of Controlled F.O.R.C.E. training systems: to give officers effective tools to perform their duty and return home at the end of their shift.
 

Copyright 2008 Controlled F.O.R.C.E. Inc