Recent Book: Ju Jitsu: Police Ju Jitsu
| Author | Ceddon |
| Published date | 01 November 1962 |
| Date | 01 November 1962 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0032258X6203500620 |
| Subject Matter | Recent Book |
There is a good deal of useful information and shrewd comment in these pages.
Clearly, in view of the language difficulty, Mr. Hearn has done a first-rate
job
of
interrogation. Flattering things were said about
the"
English"
police, and one
suspects
that
his direct and forthright manner was also appreciated. He finds
much to admire in their system, and much to condemn, and he shows clearly the
police difficulties which arise when enforcement is based on a code drawn up on
the axiom that the State is all important and the rights of the individual of no
account; in
which"
any interpretation of the criminal law is primarily apolitical
interpretation, and the science of criminal law must be deemed to be essentially
apolitical
interpretation".
Mr. Hearn's recipe is brisk.
"They
should scrap the lot and start again."
After adescription of Bureaucracy-Gone-Mad in the Russian industrial system,
and of the impossible legal and enforcement position which results, he remarks:
" A crazy daisy of an industrial system. Scotland Yard or the FBI would lick
this lot into shape in about six months flat." His remedy is " an independent,
unpolitical, CIVIL police
system"
based on
"a
Common Law, English system ".
This sounds like sturdy, and patriotic, commonsense, but it must be suspected
that nations not only get the police system which they deserve but also the legal
system which reflects their history and their politico-social structure. Mr. Hearn,
however, is often stimulating, sometimes liberal, occasionally conservative, and
always individual, and while building up his picture of the Russian system ends
by painting a clear and not unattractive picture of himself. This is not the work
of a professional Kremlinologist, but of a professional member of the Surrey
Constabulary, casting an experienced eye on an unfamiliar scene. Mr. Hearn is
to be congratulated on his
enterprise-and
so, incidentally, is his
bank
manager.
More care should have been taken to clear a mass of minor mistakes from the
text. J. D.-H.
CHAPMAN
JU
JITSU
JAMES
M.
MOYNAHAN
JR: Police Ju Jitsu. Charles C. Thomas, 301-327, East
Lawrence Avenue, Springfield, Illinois, U.S.A. $4.75.
THIS
IS
A
USEFUL
BOOK for the British policeman or any other person who wishes
to learn
the"
gentle
art
...
the forerunner of
Judo"
(p. 25), if one allows for
the Americanisms and references to "
If
armed, you should draw your
weapon"
and"
The night stick may be
used"
(p, 95).
The writer says: "Oftentimes, the training is far from
adequate"
and goes
on:
"Much
of the time the officer is subjected to 10 or more hours of instruction
-that
is all " (p. 27) and one must presume
that
he means a maximum of 10
hours whereas the British policeman has 18 hours' self-defence in his initial
course at district training schools. But the crux of the matter is on the same page:
" Many hours must be devoted to practice even after mastery in order to ensure
the officer of success in the
techniques".
The book sets out " Police Come Alongs " in which the partner stands with
his hands on
hips-though
one can hardly imagine a potential prisoner being so
obliging-"
this is merely done in practice ", we are told,
"so
that
the description
of how to do it is
not
too
confusing"
(p, 32). This chapter is followed by
"Miscellaneous
Holds"
and goes on to the defences against knives, pistols and
other attacks. One feels
that
the latter chapters could have come earlier. With
the
"come
alongs " following the defences against attack it would have been
possible to show how to make the arrest from a position
other
than"
hands on
hips
".
The diagrams are good although they would have been better if the text had
kept pace with them. In the present format it is sometimes necessary to
turn
forward four or five pages to find the appropriate diagram. However, if one is
prepared to accept this with the Americanisms and the order of the chapters then
this is the book for the British
policeman-but
he must practise, pn!Ctise-tmd
practise (or practice!). "
CEDDON
"
November-December 1962 436
To continue reading
Request your trial