In 2010, during a routine training exercise, a West Virginia police officer unexpectedly died. This is neither typical nor common, however; caused the police force to take a good, long look at its training methods. Here is an excerpt from the proceeding newspaper article:

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — A West Virginia State Police trooper who died unexpectedly Monday is being remembered as a good officer and a good man.

The state police announced 1st Sgt. Joseph G. Portaro’s death in a statement Monday:

It is with deepest regret and sorrow that the West Virginia State Police announces the unexpected death of 1st Sgt. Joseph G. Portaro (50 years of age, a native of Clarksburg. He was a 17-year veteran of the West Virginia State Police and assigned to the West Virginia State Police Academy as the deputy director of training.

The statement continued to say Portaro suffered a medical emergency while participating in a physical fitness training routine near the grounds of the West Virginia State Police Academy. He was transported to Thomas Memorial Hospital in South Charleston, where he was pronounced dead.

To address this issue and in an attempt to better train their officers, the police academy turned to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, particularly the Gracies. Using what he calls Gracie Survival Tactics Ryron Gracie was commissioned to undertake the task of re-training the police force.

The video below is a news story in which Gracie himself, along with members of the police force, describe the new method of training and a few of the principles behind it. So check out the video below to exactly what law enforcement is doing to ensure that there is never another tragedy such as the one seen in 2010.

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Jacob C. Stevens is a lifelong athlete and cerebral martial arts enthusiast who is also skilled in the art of linguistic manipulation, his published work, Afterthoughts and Handgrenades, can be found here…