This Is How the NYPD Once Handled Violent Criminals

A police officer of the New York Police Department teaches new recruits how to use the Japanese martial art of jujutsu in dealing with criminals, circa 1930

This is a four minute tape from an early 1960s radio series called New York: A Portrait in Sound.  The series captures the everyday lives of New Yorkers and contains interviews with everyone from nighttime taxi drivers and zoo security guards to East River scuba divers. This particular episode highlights NYPD's new recruit training from 1961.

The tape explains the two-pronged approach the police academy takes to facilitate good police-work. On one hand, classroom training and peaceful conflict resolution is emphasized; on the other, officers learn to rely on brute physical force.

It's this second method where the interviewed officers are unusually candid. Judo instructor and Sergeant Pete King says, "We're not trying to make black belts...we have no rules, this is strictly guerrilla warfare when you're out there.  There's no rules...it's every man for himself once it starts."