FORT SMITH, Ark. — Don Paul Bales is the head instructor at Championship MMA in Fort Smith.
Today (July 11), he hosted several law enforcement officers from state, local and regional agencies.
The goal of his training was all about de-escalation techniques, and in the event of an altercation becoming violent, how to maneuver an arrest without injury.
"We really want to give the officer and the subject an opportunity to deescalate before it gets violent," Bales said.
He acknowledged that the moves he demonstrated today are taught in most academies, but that it is good to reinforce training as often as possible.
"If you were very proficient and you know exactly what to do it takes less time," Bales said in reference to the eight minutes and 46 seconds the Minneapolis police officer sat on the neck of George Floyd.
Bales said even the situation in Atlanta when officers shot and killed Rayshard Brooks could have been avoided with better pre-arrest dialogue.
"If he maintained distance and gave commands and the subject doesn't comply, then he could try other things - verbal de-escalation, if he needs intermediate weapons: pepper spray, conducted energy weapons, things like that," said Bales inside his training facility in Fort Smith.
The day was split into two parts.
The first part dealt with compliant handcuffing. Officers practiced dialogue from a distance in order to secure handcuffs on someone in a nonviolent way.
Then there was training for when dealing with non-compliant subjects.
Most attendees at today's instruction were left off-camera for their safety.
5News did speak to Daniel Kasper, a Poteau police officer, and state-certified instructor.
"Unfortunately sometimes people do have to go to jail, sometimes they don't want to go to jail. This [Saturday's training] is one of the ways we can, as safely as possible, keep the officer safe, the suspect safe, and do our jobs and everyone go home safely," said Kasper.