Linda Harris TEACHING TECHNIQUE – Area law enforcement officers spend time on the mats during a recent jiu-jitsu training session at Steubenville Strength & Wellness. Supporters of the program say the techniques help officers build confidence, improve decision-making and safely control suspects when physical force becomes necessary.

STEUBENVILLE — Area law enforcement officers spent an afternoon training in jiu-jitsu techniques recently, a skillset organizers say can help keep them — and the public — safer.

Attorney General Andy Wilson kicked off the training session at Steubenville Strength & Wellness, 227 N. Fourth St., telling the more than two dozen city police officers, sheriff’s deputies and state troopers filling the gym that jiu-jitsu gives them another nonlethal tool they can use to bring reluctant suspects into submission.

“It’s to teach techniques that allow (subjects) to be taken into custody without hurting them,” Wilson said. “It’s getting them to comply in a way that doesn’t hurt them, it’s also building confidence in these officers and these deputies, so that if they have to go hands-on they make decisions from a rational-based decision-making matrix instead of (it being) an emotional or fear decision.”

Wilson said training “is key in just building that base that allows these officers to have the confidence to be calm and to make rational-based decisions and end up taking the suspect into custody without hurting them or hurting themselves.”

“The whole point of this is to mitigate them having to use force, to build confidence in (the officer’s) ability to do these types of moves,” Wilson said.

Mayor Ralph Petrella said he met Wilson when he was the director of public safety.

“He spoke at a ‘Mayors Partnership for Progress’ event in Columbus on the importance of physical preparation and jiu-jitsu training for officers,” Petrella said. “I train and compete in jiu-jitsu and agree that having those hand-to-hand skills creates confidence and could help end dangerous situations better for all parties.”

Petrella said honing a police officer’s skill set is “extremely important for the safety of all parties involved if a situation would ever arise. Training in this manner is safe and effective for controlling and maintaining safety.”

Police Chief Ken Anderson said it’s about “defensive tactics/subject control,” saying it’s important for law enforcement “as it prepares officers to handle physical confrontations safely, reduces the risk of injury to both officers and subjects and ensures appropriate use of force, and enhances clear decision-making under high-pressure stress.”

“Our officers need and deserve training that is going to help them do their job and keep them safe,” he added. “Our citizens expect a highly trained and professional police department. We can accomplish both through this type of continuous training.”

Steubenville’s training officer for the past 20 years, Capt. John Lemal, said jiu-jitsu is “about controlling subjects without having to up the level of force.”

“What the attorney general is saying, I’ve been saying for years: When guys are confident in putting hands on people to control them, it actually takes down the level of force needed to control them. It gives them more confidence and it’s safer for the officer and the suspect. I strongly encourage these guys to further their skills — clearly, the AG, who is a prosecutor by trade, agrees.”