A.p.r Handcuff Course

skip

Having worked on doors for many years myself a few years back, i think the role of the modern Doorperson has become very, very difficult. If you don't come from a public service/martial arts background and, as such, have good grappling/control and restraint skills embedded then I can see how cuffs seem like a good choice.

You state 'When you have to restrain a coked up idiot for 5-20 minutes until the police arrived with numerous other drunk and drugged up people trying to intervene, its a lot safer for all concerned to use cuffs than pin him to the ground', on what are you basing this statement. If you know decent two arm restraints your man isn't going anywhere, if he needs to be moved, again, it should be a team effort when all around has calmed a little.

If you are expecting to feel safe all the time, you are probably in the wrong job OR the wrong team. I recommend you get yourself a Krav Mage DVD by Avi Nardia or someone similar, the techniques he teaches are excellent. I then recommend you speak to your team about practise, practise, practising for these scenarios so it all works a lot more fluidily and you feel more confident about the job. All these courses are great but you all have to get together and practise until it's boring. People aren't far less likely to get into trouble if they do these courses because they focus more on the rules than their own personal safety. I've lost count of how many nobs i've choked/strangled out and of how many Police i've seen kicking crims legs out, putting on strangle holds and smacking nobs in the guts with the rigicuffs, it might not be lawful, but it'll keep you a lot safer.

Good luck with this, I can see you are very passionate to do well in this job, just always remember to see the bigger picture and don't be afraid to knee someone in the balls when they are twice your size and look like they want to eat you! I assure you, the Police will support you.

littlewoman

Firstly, I am quite capable of restraining most people and know plenty of armlocks and other useful moves. If a person is restrained by a person they sometimes keep fighting (especially if they're off their head, because they assume that sooner or later you are going to give up/ lose grip etc. If you stick handcuffs on them they are far more likely to realise that they aren't going to escape and will stop struggling (although not necessarily).
There's also the problem of how the public see it. If you have them on the floor in an armlock you will have numerous people screaming 'Your breaking his arm' some of those people (friends, girlfriends, relatives etc.) will try and get you off him. You are much more likely to get them to clam down if you cuff him than if (in their perception) you are fighting with him. There is also the problem of using locks when someone is drugged or drunk that they won't feel it hurting and break their own arm trying to get free.
If you only have a small team (many places only have 2 staff) then if someone's been fighting that means one door supervisor for each fighter.

There are two people on my team who are martial arts trained, one is ex-military the rest have had no training. Getting them to practice would be great but I doubt that some of them would be willing especially when they wouldn't get paid for it. They certainly wouldn't have the time to practice on a regular basis.

The comment I made about people being far less likely to get into trouble if they did these courses, was referring to legal trouble. As some of the other posts seemed to be suggesting that handcuffs was a legally dodgy area.

I firmly believe that anyone is a security role should be doing a lot of training in martial arts or specific courses aimed at their industry. Unfortunately this does not happen at many venues.

mally

Door staff work can be very dangerous, especially as mentioned earlier when dealing with drunk and drugged up individual. My experience shows that it can some times take upto 4 people to restrain a voilent person. Most punbs where I live may only have 3 or three door staff working. Also how many people go out by themselves, If your dealing with a drunken/drugged person theres no doubt their friends will be nearby.

As with all use of force we need to be able to cover our backs and justify the use of force with Proportionality, Legality and Neccessity.

I think the use of handcuffs by trained door supervisor has its place.

__________________
Mally

Add Your Company - Competitions - police military security equipment

Competition Prizes Needed, please send me a private message if you have any items you can donate!

skip

I agree whole heartedly that cuffs would help many people; in the last 12 years involved with doorwork/event work/retail security and self protection instruction I have can across many individuals, like yourself, who's biggest learning barrier is actually themselves. There are a few people only offering advice to throw into the mixing pot here for yours, and everybody elses, benefit to help our community be safe and looked after. You certainly don't need to defend your point here. We are all here to learn from everybody.

I doubt there are many people on this forum who haven't been in the scenarios you describe hundreds and hundreds of times, i know i unfortunately have. Nobody would disagree that for doorstaff to have greater powers in a bad thing but power and little knowledge are obviously very dangerous in themselves. You've probably worked with a few lemons yourself where this would have applicable. There were a few ex-Police offering some very worthwhile advice which i was only trying support from my background, 'yes' handcuffs would help but not for everybody, there would always be some people in this industry that would screw it up for everybody by using them inappropriately and then they would be taken away again. I just believe they should be used as an optional aid not as a solution; nothing more, nothing less. stay safe!

rickbudo

I've done the sia course and got the badge but my on-the-job skills and experience have been gained from 15 or more years in training the martial art of budo-taijutsu (Bujinkan Dojo) in the USA, Cayman Islands and now the UK and 8 years of running my own security company(door supervision and bodyguarding) in the Cayman Islands. Different rules apply in that part of the world. Big questions that I've had to ask: No physical skills training in the SIA badge course? No legal arrest powers other than than of a citizen's arrest in the context of UK nightlife? Warnings of non-police support in some cases ? No type of 'industry tools' eg CP gas, pepper spray, handcuffs of any kind, extendible (ASP) batons allowed at all?

How then does this handcuffing course have legal and industry authorisation for use in the industry ? I'd dearly love to know because I have a wicked door supervisor Course ready to go once I can get legal and industry permission to offer and teach it to industry members. Not being funny, please give some insight. Thanks.

rickbudo

Skip

I would say that without proper martial arts training in grappling, restraint and control, handcuffing skills alone might be left lacking in some basic fundamentals. Proper handcuffing should be an extension of grappling and control skills. My belt works just fine as long as my body is, if you know what I mean. Any laws against beltcuffing?

littlewoman

Rick,
I'm from a Bujinkan background as well so its good to have you around.
The course has Skills for Security approval which is the regulating body for security training. It has this approval because the person who put the course together did everything needed to get the course approved. He also happens to be an ex police officer.
There are laws against carrying many types of weapons, lots of martial arts weapons, CS and pepper spray, batons etc but there is no actual law against handcuffs. The use of handcuffs comes under the normal laws of reasonable force. This course teaches all the legal stuff about the sort of circumstances that they can be used in.
The problem with using something like a belt to restrain people is that if they are injured as a result then you likely to be in more trouble than if you use something specifically designed to safely restrain someone, also the course comes with insurance to fight any legal problems.

Andy W

Hiya, guys.

My name's Andy Walker, and I wrote this new "APR" course.

I'm an ex-Met mam myself, and have spent the last 10 years or so training security staff.

This course is accredited by our sector skills body (Skills for Security). Before it received the accreditation the course was run by our friends at ACPO, who although they cannot endorse any private training programme, did confirm that they had no problems with it. In fact, I have a formal letter from ACPO's lead on restraints confirming that plastic restraints are not offensive weapons, and that it is perfectly legal for security staff to use them whilst carrying out the lawful arrest of a violent offender.

Whilst I understand your concerns about security staf using restraints, our training is a full 8 hours (the police's is about 3 hours once a year). The training follows the ACPO giudelines on restraints, and also follows the Police Complaints Authority's national training recommendations on mechanical restraints, which ACPO decided not to follow because the recommended training would take too long and would be too expensive to carry out across the board!

Also, every delegate who successfully completes the "APR" programme is covered by the 12-month "APR PROTECTION POLICY", a bespoke insurance policy covering the individual against civil and criminal prosecution, up to a pay out of £50,000 in legal support.

Please feel fre to take a look at futher details about the programme (and the new "Offender I.D. Spray) on our website at Feds Training

I hope this helps.

All the best.

ANDY WALKER

Andy W

Are we protecting our staff properly?
Our security officers are all facing increasing levels of violence in the workplace, of that there is no doubt. Although, in theory at least, those security operatives are better trained than they were maybe five years ago, we still need to closely monitor whether the levels of training given to our people for licensing purposes is sufficient to keep them as safe as possible whilst they are working for us.
The new core competency training and qualifications for security officers for sia licensing, for example, carry a section on ‘arrest’. When the shoplifter, robber, burglar, assailant or graffiti-artist decides that he doesn’t fancy being arrested by the security operative, however, and offers violence or struggles to escape, then what can our people do to protect themselves and to make that arrest?


The use of handcuffs and restraints-
There has been much debate over the years as to whether security operatives should use handcuffs or the new plastic restraints that are now available when effecting lawful arrests of violent people.
There is nothing in the law that says that security operatives can use handcuffs for restraining people, but nothing that says they cannot. Provided that they are only used when effecting a lawful arrest, and only on violent detainees, when they are absolutely necessary, to prevent escape or injury, then it is perfectly legal to use them.
The use of handcuffs is obviously a ‘use of force’, and therefore must be properly justified. Justification is achieved through establishing not only the legal right to use such equipment (ie when effecting a lawful arrest), but also through good objective grounds for so doing, in order to show that what was done was reasonable and necessary in the circumstances. The use of restraints by security personnel may well have to be justified to the police, the courts and possibly in civil actions.

FEDS Training have recently launched the new one-day APR (Arrest and Plastic Restraints) training programme, which teaches security staff how to use plastic restraints effectively, safely and within the strict rule of law.
Certified by “Skills for Security”, our new Government-supported sector skills body, this new 10-hour course has been specifically designed for anyone within the private security industry who may have to effect an arrest during the course of their duties, and interest in this innovative new programme has already been shown by door supervisors, store detectives, security officers, revenue protection officers, street/crime wardens, civil enforcement officers, bailiffs, close protection officers, event stewards and both court and prison escort staff.
FEDS Training managing-director Andy Walker says, “If we are teaching security operatives how to carry out arrests, which part of the training for sia licensing requires, then under the Health and Safety at Work Act all employers need to be assessing the risks to those workers, and then providing suitable training and equipment to ensure, as far as is reasonably practicable, their health and safety. If a security officer is seriously hurt trying to apprehend a burglar, then questions could be asked as to whether there was any suitable equipment available to assist in that arrest, and whether such equipment was issued to that member of staff”.

During the programme delegates are assessed on both the knowledge required to act
within the law, and are physically assessed on the safe application of the new restraints.

Following successful completion of the programme, delegates are issued with their own set of plastic restraints, key and belt holder. They also receive a year’s APR Protection Policy, which covers them for up to £25,000 for pursuing a claim for damages in respect of their own injury or death whilst effecting a lawful arrest, and up to £50,000 for legal defence against civil or criminal prosecution.

This new programme is the first and only nationally accredited training in the use of restraints for private security personnel. There are a few training providers advertising ‘handcuffing’ courses, but those use the police-style metal handcuffs, lead to no formal accreditation other than their own company certificate, and offer no insurance for those attending the course.




Course contents include-

· The history of restraints
· Types of modern restraints
· Their use within the security industry
· Rules/laws governing their use
· Powers of arrest (new powers under SOCAP Act)
· Conflict Resolution Model
· The risks involved
· Practical application

• Knowledge and practical assessment

The programme uses a new style of plastic restraint used by police in the States. The key used to unlock the restraints is the same standard key that police officers over here use for their standard-issue handcuffs. This means that if a security officer has to use the APR restraints on a violent detainee, then when the police arrive they no longer have to go through the process of releasing the prisoner from the security operative’s restraints so that they can put their own on. The police can now simply take the prisoner away, safe in the knowledge that they can release him from the restraints themselves, using their own keys, back at the police station.

It is hoped that in the future this new piece of equipment, supported by the accredited training and insurance, will become the norm within the UK private security industry, dramatically increasing levels of safety for those that work within it on the front line.

Just a quick 'cut-and-paste job from one of our nesw stories on the "APR" programme.

All the best.

ANDY WALKER

hippy

Guys, Knowing Andy W I can confirm all he has said. It is a well designed (the secret of good instruction) and well presented course.

Oh, Andy is a very good instructor!