Stephen Gruber-Miller

sgrubermil@press-citizen.com

Iowa City police officers are turning to an unusual source for their defensive tactics training: the Hawkeye wrestling team.

Over 50 Iowa City officers, eight University of Iowa police officers and officers from the Oelwein Police Department participated in a three-day training last week, learning defensive tactics and takedowns from current and former star UI wrestlers.

Iowa City Police Chief Jody Matherly — himself a former high school wrestling coach — said the training is intended as a last resort for a situation that gets out of control quickly, once officers have tried de-escalation techniques and other methods to calm the person they're interacting with.

"In this situation, we wanted them to plan for the unexpected," Matherly said. "Be able to take that person to the ground safely so no one gets hurt and then to control them for a period of time until backup arrives. You have to buy yourself time."

Instructors included Iowa All-American wrestlers Matt McDonough, Mike Evans and Thomas Gilman, and Iowa City officers Ian Alke and Niles Mercer, according to a Monday news release from the Iowa City Police Department. Iowa City Sgt. Doug Hart organized the training with Iowa wrestling coach Tom Brands.

Although police learn defensive tactics at the police academy and train regularly with certified instructors, for a big wrestling fan like Matherly, the training was a great opportunity for officers to work with the "legendary" UI wrestling team. And, he said, the unusual nature of the training helped keep officers engaged.

"It did add a level of excitement," he said. "Our training tends to get mundane. We tend to do things as usual, and part of this was to put a different spin on it and make it a little more exciting."

It also left them with a few bruises.

"I'll be honest, they didn't come out unscathed. I had a couple say, 'My neck’s a little tweaked,'" Matherly said. "And they found out that they have got to make sure they maintain their physical skills and stay in shape."

University of Iowa Public Safety Director Scott Beckner said he hopes the partnership between law enforcement and the wrestling team will expand in the future, and could include other area departments.

Although both Matherly and Beckner are relatively new to the area, they have a long history of working together in previous roles. Additional collaborations between their two departments are being planned, they said.

"Next year as this grows, we plan to open up more avenues of training with each other, and it's just going to blossom, I think, in the future," Beckner said.

Reach Stephen Gruber-Miller at 319-887-5407 or sgrubermil@press-citizen.com. Follow him on Twitter: @sgrubermiller.