Local business owner volunteers time to teach Beaufort Police “minimal force” skills

Twice a week, Beaufort Police officers and a local business owner meet in a repurposed storage room in the hopes that together they can make the community’s streets more peaceful - by learning a new way to defend themselves.

On Tuesday, wrestling mats were spread across the room located on the second floor of the department’s building on Boundary Street.

Cesar Clavijo, owner of The Stillness Gym, gave commands to the masked officers

Clavijo and each of the officers are volunteering their time for the training — a Gracie Survival Tactics course based in Jiu-Jitsu.

The 23-part course uses the “minimal amount of physical force necessary” when officers defend themselves against aggressive suspects, a release from the department says.

“If I can stay safe long enough, you get tired,” Clavijo says as he outmaneuvered his students around a mat. “Eventually I can get to a better position and I can control you.”

The course focuses on grabbling rather than striking techniques. The goal is to leave both police and suspects with no or only minor injuries, officials say.

Each section of the course lasts about 75 minutes.

Clavijo normally charges $125 an hour.

“I recognize that they (officers) really have limited access to this type of training,” Clavijo said.

So he’s teaching them for free.

“Nobody really needs this stuff more than those people putting their lives on the line day and day out.”

1st Sgt. Trish Brubaker said she is finding the training invaluable.

“I want to keep myself safe and mitigate any injures that could happen to a citizen,” said Brubaker who has been with the department about five years and in law enforcement about 15.

Brubaker likes the weekly training sessions.

She believes her defensive skills might weaken if not worked on.

“It is like riding a bike the first time after awhile,” Brubaker said. “You are a little wobbly.”

The training provided by Clavijo is helping her feel more confident in those skills.

Capt George Erdel said officers come across “violent resistance” and more often “defensive resistance”.

Defensive resistance is someone pulling their arm away without assaulting an officer, Erdel said.

“This trains officers for both of those situations,” hel said. “Ultimately, the goal is that everyone is safe — the suspect and the officer. “

Officers aren’t using the skills on a regular basis and it can be hard to recall skills when needed.

Typically officers receive a refresher course a couple times a year on skills they learned in the academy.

Clavijo’s class offers officers yet another opportunity to train.

“You start upping the levels of resistance in here and it is preparing the officers better for when they encounter it out there,” Erdel said.

The police department hasn’t allowed chokeholds outside of life threatening situations for more than a decade, Erdel said.

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office and Bluffton Police Department recently changed their policies to ban use of the chokehold in all but life-threatening situations.

Erdel said the training is an additional resource for officers. It gives them an option other than batons, pepper spray or knee strikes.

Erdel said the free program grew out of a discussion he had with Clavijo as the nation protested the death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis.

“We’ve never done anything like this before but I think this is what it takes to build proficiency and the public demands proficiency,” Erdel said.

Clavijo plans to offer the class as long as the department needs them.

“We all wish we lived in a kinder more peaceful world, but we do have to accept the reality of the world we live in and these skills help provide a buffer against that,” Clavijo said.