ST. JOSEPH -- Courtesy of Bad Habit Brewing, the St. Joseph Police Department received their training mats and what better way to test them out than to throw the Bad Habit owners in the ring.

Owners Aaron Reiland and  Eric Geier say they feel honored to help break in the new mats.

"Joel [Police Chief Joel Klein] called us yesterday [Tuesday] and invited us over to be the guinea pigs for training. So Eric and I came over and let these guys beat up on us a little bit."

The brewery donated five mats to the department with proceeds from their "Bad Does Good" fundraiser. Patrol Officer Daniel Magaard says before having the mats, officers had to walk through their training lessons, now they can speed up their movements.

"[With the] mats we can go half speed, they're going to go down on the mats, it's going to be a hard fall but injury risk is limited."

For the Bad Habit owners Magaard says he's demonstrating some basic escorting and arrest techniques.

"You might have to arrest them and they'll offer you some resistance. If you say look you're under arrest for minor consumption or you're under arrest for assault, you're escorting them out and they [think] here's my chance I'm out of the car, I can run, they offer you resistance, it's a way to take them down."

Reiland and Geier say they are glad to have the opportunity to contribute to the community.

The brewery owners have plans to support other agencies through their Bad Does Good program later this year.

Officer Daniel Magaard takes down Bad Habit Brewing owner Eric Geier. (Chrissy Gaetke, WJON)
Officer Daniel Magaard takes down Bad Habit Brewing owner Eric Geier. (Chrissy Gaetke, WJON)
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