RobertG

It could also mean that Japanese criminals are more easily subdued than American criminals. There are cultural reasons to suspect that, at least in the past, this was true. American criminals are more often armed, more often violent, and probably more often on drugs than their criminal counterparts in Japan. Obviously the only thing that works in these situations is unloading a clip in them or the dog pile and night stick attack. Lastly, merely because a police department uses Aikido does not say anything about its effectiveness. First off, that statement comes across as mere heresay (that is, which department, how long have they used it, what percentage of the their H2H curriculum does Aikdio actually comprise...). Secondly, people do dumb stuff all the time. You can see that on this board. On this thread even. Aikido could have been adopted because the police chief is really fond of it. It might not serve practical purposes. The cops themselves might prefer to train judo or jujitsu. We just don't know. But there mere fact an art is used under a specific circumstance (one police department in one town in one very homogenous country on an island) does not speak of its widespread applicability.