By Breana Ross
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BALTIMORE (WBAL) — Baltimore police officers received training in a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu-based technique to safely arrest suspects.
The SafeWrap System allows officers to arrest suspects while decreasing the number of injuries and improving de-escalation tactics.
The system, which was originally developed for psychiatric patients in hospitals, is now adapted for law enforcement.
BPD detective Charles Blackman was one of dozens across Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., to participate in the training on Thursday.
“You can tell that officers have complete, total control of the situation. You were able to breathe the entire time,” Blackman said. “It allows us to access a more effective system of taking people into custody.
Rener Gracie created the technique.
“My grandfather is one of the co-founders of the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and my father is actually one of the founders of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, so I’ve grown up (with) a family of fighters and self-defense instructors.”
Gracie used that background to come up with the SafeWrap System.
“You lock their legs and their arms in a unique configuration that causes no pain, no joint locks, no diaphragm compressions and no vascular compressions — so it’s very, very safe,” Gracie said. “It has been medically cleared by some of the top experts in the medical field.”
Gracie said the medical benefits come from putting the person on their side instead of on their stomach.
“Because they are on their side, we can medically monitor them throughout the entire encounter where, traditionally, a lot of the problems we see with restraint are that when someone is on their belly and six officers pile on top, they might be fighting. They might be resisting, and then the person goes unconscious, and (officers) never detect the loss of consciousness,” Gracie said. “The person turns blue. They turn the subject over, and they don’t know how long the person has been out. That’s because of the medical disadvantages of prone restraint where their face is in the ground and you can’t see their face while you are controlling them.”
The SafeWrap System is already being used by several police departments, including the New York Police Department and Los Angeles Police Department.
Gracie said it benefits individuals who are neurodivergent or in crisis.
“A lot of times, in neurodivergent populations, when you put them in prone (position), they feel like they are trapped with their face in the ground, and that actually makes them resist with greater force,” Gracie said. “Even though they are a patient that needs help, they start fighting because they are in a panic, and then officers escalate their level of force because the subject is resisting so violently. With SafeWrap, we have them on their side, their face is out, and there’s a therapeutic element to being rolled up on your side in the fetal position, the lateral recumbent position. There’s a therapeutic element. It’s humane. I’m looking you in the eye. I’m talking to you the entire time.”
Baltimore City police officer Damond Durant, who works in education and training, looks forward to training other officers to improve safety for both officers and suspects.
“This leaves all of the airways open. They can breathe. They are not in pain. I think it’s a whole lot safer,” Durant said.
BPD plans to train as many officers as possible in the SafeWrap System to implement it across the department.
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