A police officer recently went viral as he used an omoplata to restrain a suspect who was resisting arrest. Although many people have campaigned for the use of Jiu-Jitsu in law enforcement, most of them imagine that simple takedowns and controlling suspects safely from top position will be the most useful application of the martial art. While that’s still almost certainly the case, this video was a great example of how even the elements of Jiu-Jitsu that are more often seen in competition than self-defense can still prove to be incredibly useful for officers who find themselves in altercations with members of the public.
It stands to reason that this would be the case too, because techniques that work in competition are not immediately useless without a referee present. They work there for a reason, and the same principles of leverage and basic body mechanics still exist in the street. Although there are undoubtedly specific positions that are incredibly useful in competition but have limited use when strikes are involved, that doesn’t mean they’re completely useless. Techniques like the omoplata might not seem realistic at first, but it’s even used occasionally in professional MMA as both a submission and a sweep to take top position.
Although the omoplata isn’t seen as often in MMA as it is in BJJ, it’s worth remembering that professional fighters are a world apart from suspects that a police officer might encounter in the real world. The manipulation of the shoulder that makes the omoplata work as a submission are also what makes it work as a control position, as the opponent’s shoulder is pinned at an awkward angle with their arm trapped. Although it’s not as if people will see omoplatas used by the police every day, it’s clear that Jiu-Jitsu can equip them with a variety of ways to take top position and restrain someone from there.
Tom DeBlass shared the footage of a police officer restraining a suspect with an omoplata in a recent post to his official Instagram account:
