Baltimore police officers learn new restraint techniques to reduce arrest injuries
Baltimore Police Department is taking a major step by introducing a new restraint technique for violent arrests. The department is launching the SafeWrap System, a method designed to reduce injuries during an arrest.
The system provides officers with the tools and skills they need to safely bring someone into custody while protecting everyone involved in the encounter.
Baltimore Police Department's first class
On Thursday, WJZ had the chance to attend the very first training class in Baltimore.
Officers from Philadelphia, Washington DC Metro, and Miami police departments came to Baltimore to participate.
"Our goal is to be safe. Make sure our partners are safe, make sure the public is safe, so help us safely reach that goal," said Jose Defrank, a detective with the Baltimore Police Department.
"It's been a long time trying to get this training set up and get it rolled out to the department," said Shawn Parlett, a sergeant with the department's Continued Education Tactics and Use of Force Unit. "My colleagues and I have worked really hard to bring it here. And to see how it was received by officers. It is good."
BPD said all Police Academy classes will begin this training, and officers will begin this training through in-service training.
How did SafeWrap begin?
Rener and Ryron Gracie are third-generation Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt instructors and the grandsons of Helio Gracie.
The brothers originally developed SafeWrap for hospitals and psychiatric patients, later modifying it for law enforcement's use of force encounters nationwide.
"You have two officers take someone down, they put that person in a prone position, they pile on top of them, and they somehow try to extract those hands from underneath and put them behind their back, and then put the cuffs on. This presents several tactical problems," said Rener Gracie.
"It was eye-opening," DeFrank said. "So, I've been in plenty of uses for us where sometimes things go to the ground, and it's not as smooth and pretty as anybody would want, officers get injured, suspects get injured, and nobody wants that."
The training also teaches officers a new way to de-escalate a situation for those experiencing a mental health crisis.
"The subject is a patient. They need help. When officers show up with conventional methods, 'get him on his stomach, jump on his back, and they rush to a prone position, it often exacerbates the situation," Gracie said.
BPD explained that the program aligns with recommendations outlined in a September 2024 report from the Police Executive Research Forum on reducing the risks of restraint-related deaths.
The SafeWrap method emphasizes:
- Placing individuals in the recovery or lateral position rather than face down
- Avoiding joint locks, choke holds, and strikes
- Using teamwork and communication to safely immobilize a subject
- Monitoring and reassessing a subject's condition
Gracie said the method also helps keep a suspect or an individual facing out, so law enforcement and responders can medically monitor the person during the encounter.
"Instead of putting someone down in their belly and from their back, we control their arms and their legs so they can't get up, but they also can't hurt us, and then we turn them on their side," Gracie said.
"[We] look forward to it being used to build that trust with the community, to build that relationship with the game. We don't want to have to do this, but sometimes we do, when we do, we're doing it in a way to be as safe for everybody involved," Parlett said.
