Meet Dr. Butler
Dr. Jeremy Butler is an author, professor, defensive tactics instructor, speaker, and former police officer. Low self-confidence and a desire to protect himself on the south side of Chicago led him to find his passion in studying martial arts at the age of 12.
At age 24, he opened Pagoda Rebirth Martial Arts, while also pursuing a career in law enforcement. During his seven years as a police officer, he worked in various roles including serving as a control tactics instructor and verbal de-escalation instructor for multiple departments via the regional police mobile training unit. During this time, Dr. Butler also earned a PhD in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
He offers a variety of trainings and speaking engagements targeting law enforcement as well as civilians in physical and mental preparation for potentially violent encounters.
Over the past 20 years, he has taught martial arts and defensive tactics programs in Chicago, Urbana-Champaign, Bloomington-Normal, Los Angeles, Carpentersville, East Dundee, and Dixon. Dr. Butler is currently a police academy lead control tactics instructor, Associate Director of Project FLEX, and a Kinesiology instructor at Northern Illinois University.
Martial Arts Training Background
- Pagoda Ryu Martial Arts System, Master Instructor (5th Dan)
- Dog Brothers Martial Arts, Group Leader
- Filipino Martial Arts, Apprentice Instructor
- Jun Fan Gung Fu/JKD Concepts, Apprentice Instructor
-360 Gun Grappling Shooting System, Instructor
- Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Brown Belt
At age 24, he opened Pagoda Rebirth Martial Arts, while also pursuing a career in law enforcement. During his seven years as a police officer, he worked in various roles including serving as a control tactics instructor and verbal de-escalation instructor for multiple departments via the regional police mobile training unit. During this time, Dr. Butler also earned a PhD in Kinesiology from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
He offers a variety of trainings and speaking engagements targeting law enforcement as well as civilians in physical and mental preparation for potentially violent encounters.
Over the past 20 years, he has taught martial arts and defensive tactics programs in Chicago, Urbana-Champaign, Bloomington-Normal, Los Angeles, Carpentersville, East Dundee, and Dixon. Dr. Butler is currently a police academy lead control tactics instructor, Associate Director of Project FLEX, and a Kinesiology instructor at Northern Illinois University.
Martial Arts Training Background
- Pagoda Ryu Martial Arts System, Master Instructor (5th Dan)
- Dog Brothers Martial Arts, Group Leader
- Filipino Martial Arts, Apprentice Instructor
- Jun Fan Gung Fu/JKD Concepts, Apprentice Instructor
-360 Gun Grappling Shooting System, Instructor
- Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, Brown Belt