The most commonly used arrest and self-defence actions arsenal by different officers of internal services

Abstract

Background & Study Aim: Different officers of internal services have to use psychological and/or physical force, special means and even weapons. Throughout the year, officers have a limited number of hours given for specific professional competence development. We are making assumption that our research will provide information about the real situations of coercion and violence usage by different officers. The aim of this study is a recommendation, to use this knowledge to create optimal conditions for participants officer qualification courses, provide additional experience for them, and help to improve the quality of their work, and increasing public confidence. Material & Methods: The study involves all Lithuanian Departments of Internal Affairs officers: Police at lowest level (males) 186 persons and the State Border Guard Service (SBGS) 120 persons. The research was conducted in three directions: the offenders behaviour that officers encounter during the detention, the distribution of actions performed by the officers in fights with the offenders, self-defence training themes requested by the officers. Results: Police officers carry out offenders detentions approximately two times more often than SBGS officers do. Police officers more often face with the passively resisting offenders, whereas SBGS officers more often meet an aggressive resistance. Both police and SBGS officers perform approximately 1/3 of defend and 2/3 of attack actions while arresting the offender. Police officers tend to use less arrest and wrestling actions. Police officers wish to devote more time to defend actions in the training, whereas SBGS officers – to attack actions. Conclusions: A more frequent participation in the detention of offenders is accompanied by the need of officers to develop their defensive combat skills. Different officers have different needs of practical combat training, therefore, the different practical training programs should be prepared for them.