Verbal Judo has anyone ever taken it?

Verbal Judo was created by George J. Thompson Ph.D. It is highly recommend for police officers and George Thompson was a former police officer back east.

It is the art of gentle persuasion. It works best in a Domestic Violence call. That is what it was designed around. My purpose of even putting this up is that I was able to take his course and I learned so much about how to properly approach situations and speak to suspects that will not do anything you say to comply with you.

I’ve noticed that most MA’s that have been training for years seem to speak very good and along the lines of verbal judo. If anyone can ever get the chance to take the course I recommend it highly. It comes in handy all the time and after you seem to of mastered it, you notice yourself, saying what you mean and getting your point across in a nice way, but the person knows you are serious.

Any Law Enforcement Officers in here that haven’t taken it you should and if you can’t get to a class you should pick up his book “Verbal Judo The Gentle Art of Persuasion” by George J. Thompson.

He calls it Verbal Judo because he states that you redirect your suspects energy and send it right back to them with a soft voice but a strong stance in what you say.

Ocman………….


[This message has been edited by ocman (edited 11-27-2004).]

I have not personally attended the course but several of my friends have. They speak highly of it as far as it's intended use.

I have worked with Tony Blauer on some of the same principles. The idea of establishing rapport and diffusing a confrontation rather than going straight to hands-on. Sometimes a good option for Security as well as Law Enforcement.

Hi Ocman
In the UK we have what is called the 5 step style and L.E.A.P.S. Both of which are a form of verbal judo as you describe. Without boring you and going into too much detail, both are designed to "talk someone down" to a level where they are calm and compliant without the need to increase the level of force.
I have used both successfully and found that it really does work on most people, be they drunk or enraged. Not so good against those under the influence of drugs however.
Regards Lea

Thats true Lea he does mentition L E A P S in his book and talks about it in a whole chapter. Good stuff to read or take a course in.