Edged Weapon Awareness and Self-Defence Course (diary entry)

31.05.15 Today’s seminar was the first of hopefully several that will be held at the regular “secret gym” venue, where I hold most of my local private lessons. The venue is fast becoming ideally suited to deliver the type of service CCMA provides. Groups for this type of seminar are strictly limited to ensure intensive training and the gym is kitted out specifically for the type of physical training I conduct. Of course, the nature of this particular seminar is made up largely of soft skills, so a good amount of time included a PowerPoint presentation. The soft skills material was based on the KEWAP (Knife and Edged Weapon Awareness Programme), which is the best programme of this nature I have found. The programme begins with a brief overview of self-protection, which I broke up with a simple introduction to conflict management and controlling distance role-play activities. KEWAP divides this into something they call the four Ds – Distance, Dialogue, Deflect and Defuse. We discussed social and asocial violence, pre-incident indicators and the effects of fear before moving onto the specifics of knife and edged weapon awareness. We looked at the four definitions of edged weapons – made, intended, modified or adapted and cloaked. Statistically speaking, knives are most commonly carried by children who have been excluded from school and we discussed the lowering age of individuals involved in knife crime (both attackers and victims). Having said this, the people most likely to be involved in any form of violent incident are usually over the age of 16 and under the age of 30. Edged weapons change the dynamic of situations dramatically. When an edged weapon is present, it is very likely matters will escalate in some way. One in three individuals was injured by their own knife. Due to their accessibility and availability, knives are a preferred weapon for a violent criminal. New ceramic knives, which cannot be dictated by most archway and mobile security scanners, can be bought for affordable prices and are easily concealed. We looked at data on the nature knife wounds, varying from those inflicted to “send a message” to the sometimes fatal nature of stabbings. The four types of wound associated with edged weapon assaults are incisions, which are usually clean cuts or slashes, lacerations, which are tears or rips, punctures, which are usually stabbings and impact trauma. Looking at penetration depths it is somewhat concerning that the UK average stab depth is 8cm-10cm, which is at least 4cm deeper than what is required to penetrate the heart. We discussed areas such as the brachial, carotid and femoral arteries, which are easily accessed and can cause a fatality very quickly if they were opened by an edged weapon.  This moved us onto other aspects of post-fight situations, such as maintaining awareness, medical matters and reporting the incident. Finally we discussed the UK legal aspects involved. This covered the Knife Act 1997, including the legal length of knife that is permitted to be carried in public – 3 inches (7.62cms) or under – which usually has to be justified, and also the UK self-defence laws, such as Section 3 (1) Criminal Law Act of 1967. I recommend Mark Dawes’ “Understanding Reasonable Force” (see my review) and Leigh Simms’ “UK Self-Defence Law: A Practical Guide to Understanding the Law of Defending Yourself” for more in depth studies on this very important aspect of self-protection education. Moving back onto the practical side of the training, we began with some weapon awareness exercises. As we discussed, there are various type of knife attacker with different motives, some with no motives at all. The majority who use knives to commit a crime do so to intimidate, but the threat should never be underestimated. Many serious injuries and deaths have happened when a burglar has been startled or a career mugger feels he needs to make an example of a courageous target. I would be wary of testing the “showers aren’t users” dictum. A person who wishes to use a knife to inflict an injury or to kill is highly unlikely to show their victim, unless they abducted them in some way. The first a target will know about such an assault is usually after they have been stabbed. The practical section began with observing an individual carrying an edged weapon and raising the alarm whilst maintaining distance. Here we teach very simple vocal responses, in the form of commands such as “Drop the weapon!” or “Knife!” This can not only work as a method for buying extra time if makes the would-be attacker to even briefly pause, but also brings attention to your situation. It might even discourage the attacker or make them think twice about continuing with their intended assault. The next level involved the target using the same procedure, but this time accessing an exit point. Just like awareness, the escape is something that is often brushed over in most self-defence courses. I ensured that tactical evasions and footwork were covered and confirmed to an acceptable level. I also suggested that all attendees practise more agility and sprint work for specific conditioning. Lack of appreciation and training around hazards was another aspect I was keen to address in this particular seminar. We then moved onto tactics for handler an attacker if exits are blocked. This section involves the use of barriers and incidental weapons. Most objects can be used in some way to distract, bar as a means of equalizing such a situation. We went through two basic angles of attack that can be applied to most reasonably sized objects. These were drilled through postures and then pressure-tested against trainees with practise blades. I emphasized the importance of engaging with an incidental weapon, striking anything of the attacker that came into range, such as the arm, and carrying the counter-assault to vulnerable areas such as the head and knees. Whilst this tactic was being applied the defender was constantly reminded to work towards their exit point. The final part of our physical training was concerned with unarmed responses to a knife assault. We did this with the premise of being completely cornered and all assaults began at close range. My rationale for this was to avoid unrealistic distancing, which is another common feature of “knife seminars”. Again, I kept everything as proactive as possible for the course attendees. I do not see much point in training a civilian (or anyone) to wait for someone to attack. Many self-defence teachers are aux fait with pre-emptive striking, but it all fall apart when I they move onto dealing with armed attackers. The principle should remain the same. You attack the attack. The only major adjustment to your tactical response in this instance is that you intercept the attacking arm as a priority rather than trying to pre-emptively strike. The risk factor is just too high. Once the weapon hand is under a degree of control the defender should back up his counter-assault with strikes, bites and stamps to vulnerable and accessible areas.   Special Note: A correction to the verbal data I supplied on the day. The domestic (or kitchen) knife is now the most common form of edged weapon used in crimes.