Cops offered gentle art of de-escalation at Bunbury MMA centre

A Bunbury MMA centre is offering free classes to police officers to provide them with extra skills to safely protect the community and themselves.

Inspired by the situation unfolding in the US, the team at Base MMA Bunbury decided to offer free classes for police in the area to help them learn how to handle confrontational situations without anyone being harmed.

Co-owner and operator Steve Pimlott said the response had been very positive, with several officers coming to take part in the classes.

We saw everything happening in the US and talked amongst ourselves about how situations could have been handled differently.

“We’re not saying we have better skills than the police of course, we can just help show how to de-escalate things safely.

“Jiujitsu actually means the gentle art.”

Co-owner and operator James Munro said the team wanted to do something positive.

The police help us and we wanted to help too.

“I think I could safely take someone down without harming them or myself, and we want to help share those skills. Seeing the situations that can happen, I think you’d want that type of training.”