The Art of DEFLECTION

<p>It was another domestic call, and officer Patti Smith was headed to the incident on her own. Domestic disturbances can turn ugly pretty quick, and she was the closest unit responding. That would mean she alone would deal with whatever was happening by herself before any back up arrived.</p> <p>As she stepped out of her squad car she saw what looked like a couple, standing few feet apart, screaming mostly obscenities at each other. A crowd had gathered, some young guy was shooting the next YouTube viral phone cam video, and things looked to go south really fast if she didn’t gain control of the situation right away.</p> <p>Just as soon as her foot hit the hot blacktop some presumably engaged onlooker yelled, “Hey lady cop, why don’t you jump back in your car, do us favor, and go do a donut run. We got this!” Officer Smith knew at once she was being challenged, and dismissed before she could even get started.</p> <p>With big smile she looked straight at the large man and said, “Just ate half a box, my personal trainer is going to kill me during my session, you know how leg days are. I’ll be lucky to keep anything down without puking my guts out tomorrow.” The heckler was immediately DEFLECTED, the crowd, including the couple went silent, and someone chuckled. “Now I’m going to need y’all to take about 10 steps back to that curb while we get this sorted out…Thank you.” Immediately, her DEFLECTION turned into a direct, and powerful request, as she took control.</p> <p>In self-defense we DEFLECT kicks, punches, pushes and grabs. The science behind a deflection is asymmetrical triangulation, resulting in non-linear interaction. Officer Smith was out numbered, and force was directed at her through a direct challenge to her authority, and her ability to take control. Her verbal self defense training kicked in and she DEFLECTED</p> <p>Direct confrontation in self-defense, team interaction, or an angry teenager’s exchange almost always ends badly. This is due to the fact that either one gets pummeled into submission, gi