SELF DEFENCE OR SELF DECEPTION?

SELF DEFENCE OR SELF DECEPTION

My Background: You will find my qualifications on my information website elite international.uk.com

I was asked back to Britain from Japan by the City of London police, who wanted to use my expertise as leading authority in my field. After returning to Britain and for various reasons, not relevant here, I pursued a different direction.

Over the years I have taught and researched with the Japanese police, American military, and various British police forces. Apart from 5 years with the City of London police, I spent 5 year as a police officer in a violently active area of London, having well over 100 actual hands on encounters. I was often the first to be asked to deal such situations because of my knowledge. . Somewhere along the road, I won the National Police Judo Championships.

I wrote the first and only Home Office Approved book on Police Arrest skills. I appeared with Sarah Kennedy in the BBC Streetwise series on self defence. Nationwide TV profiled my perspective on this subject. I have also given advice on a number of media news programmes over the years

My knowledge does not come from any academic source. It comes from some 60 odd years of practical martial arts experience, as well as hands on self defence understanding. This includes hundreds of one to one roll in the gutter encounters (mostly as a police officer).

The true concept of Self Defence is far from the public image you are used to seeing. Lots of people take self defence lessons thinking it will solves the problem, but often a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing. Many visualize the attacker and how they would deal with them. Others believe that if the techniques they have learned are horrendous enough, they will devastate the attacker. Most people do not have continued experience within the dark side of humanity, they allow supposition to overshadow real world factuality. It is a part of the comfort zone syndrome.

In my time I have seen things that I would never commit to paper, nor would I wish those experiences on anyone. The real art of self defence rest in two precepts (a) When you learn self defence technique, are you focused on how to make the techniques effective, or how to develop yourself through the technique? By analogy, is it more important to have a top of the range car, or have the presence and skill to get optimum performance out of any car you drive. (b) Is what your doing a realistic proposition in the environment you are spending your life in? Here is another consideration; there is a difference between battlefield unarmed combat, where anything goes. As opposed to civilised society, where self defence means that at law, you have to show the forced used was reasonable under the circumstanced. Hey remember….it’s your choice, do the heavier over the top stuff, as long as you are happy to serve time when things go wrong.

So many people feel that learning to do the worst thing possible to another person adds weight to self defence. I have seen a person with their eye poked out and hanging on their cheek, if you have a psychotic mind you will have no trouble poking behind the eye socket and flicking it out. Otherwise you will hesitate, that moment will be your downfall. Apart from that, the truth is, that when serious pain is inflicted, the brain sends a rush of endorphins that numb that pain. Guys have talked calmly to me with horrendous injuries, as if nothing has happened. Don’t rely on the assumption that serious injury will inhibit your attacker. The nitty- gritty of a real encounter is nothing like training in a safe environment. If you live in that illusion, the first time reality will hit you is when something really happens.

The truth is, that in relation to your whole life, the chances of becoming a victim of violence is usually minimal. Many cases are minor, although some can have an emotional knock on effect. The problem is that the random factor is indiscriminate and can reach out to anyone. Deciding to take some measures is a little like taking out an insurance policy, you spend a lot of time paying for something that may never happens. However, if it does, you are really grateful that you kept the payments up.

So the right question would be, what is self defence anyway? It is much more than training a few nights a week in learning to fight back. First you must realize that not all attackers have the same mentality and attitude. You might fight back against the street urchin who tries to nick your mobile, they may exhibit initial bravado, but often as not, will run off and find a less enthusiastic victim. Some may see your attempts to fight back as a challenge, then the gang mentality may trigger a violent response. There are those who have attitude and no moral parameters, then without fear, they will use their power to decimate you if you resist. It’s like having six ice cream cones that all look alike, its only when you taste them, you realise that one has salt, one is fine, another taste like mustard etc. The moral is, that you just don’t know, what you may have learned might be just enough to get you into trouble, not out of it. I remember one guy had six police officers holding him down and he just stood up and shook them off, then pulled a door off its hinges to make good his escape. I am not saying don’t do anything, just that you need to use the right tools for the job.

Real Self Defence focuses on more that simple pugilism. It is often the case that the attack did not suddenly happen, there were tell tale signs before, its just that the victim did not see them. I have seen a family walk into a villains pub and sit right next to the key man and his henchmen, without even a thought. I noticed a woman in a crowd stand right next to an obvious pick pocket, then put her purse on top of her shopping bag. I can go on, the fact is you need 2 things first. (a) the ability to be aware of your surroundings when you need to (not day dreaming about your holiday in Hawaii). (b) A knowledge of potential crime risks, body language and the villains common tricks.

You do not have to end up in a confrontation, there are many ways you can avoid the conflict part. This will depend on your perceptive ingenuity and presence of mind. One woman I taught was accosted by a man intent on sexually assaulting her, luckily home was not far away. She kept her presence of mind and suggested that the bomb site was not the place to have sex, but she had a comfortable house round the corned and no one was at home. The guy fell for it, but when she opened the door the attacker was confronted by her brother and father, the rest is history. If you keep presence of mind and use a bit of ingenuity sometimes you can avoid the conflict.

I am not telling you what to do if you are attacked, but I will say ‘you can only effect what you as an individual are emotionally and physically capable of’.

It’s good to remember also that self defence does not end with the encounter. The attacker has committed a crime, so police will be involved. If your evidence is weak they will probably escape conviction. What you remember clearly; places, car registrations, good descriptions, etc etc, will make the difference. You might also like to familiarize yourself with how a court operates (all courts have visitors galleries). Many find their first experience giving evidence so daunting they freeze up. It can make a big difference to the outcome of the case.

Real Self Defence is a whole study, which I have only outlined briefly above. As a subject, self defence can not only keep you safe, but has many fascinating aspects that will hold your interest. For lots of reasons street crime can only expand within our ever changing culture, how we perceive it can make the difference. One associate some years ago encapsulated one changing difference; he said ‘in the 1960s, if a villain threw a bottle through a shop window and the officer shouted stop, the villain would leg it away fast. In present day if the same thing happened, the villain would probably break the bottle and tell the officer to come on and try their luck’.

I am not painting a dark picture, simply highlighting and separating some realities from fantasies. Luckily at present in Britain, pro-rata the population, violent crime is still in its infancy. I hope this article helps everyone improve their perception and perspective on this subject. I have tried to present a realistic appraisal.

Article By

Michael Finn

World copyright 2021