Negotiator Discusses Keys To Job

“I made a phone call and was able to convince him to come out,” he said. “He came down and thanked me ... that’s the thing that is so rewarding.”

Standoff between military vet, police comes to an end in Kentucky

Facebook once again played a role during a hostage situation.  The incident involved shots fired by both the subject and the police, while also three children were released during the negotiations.

Inside San Antonio PD's Hostage Negotiation Team

SAN ANTONIO – San Antonio police hostage negotiators are on call 24 hours a day 7 days a week. 

The team never knows what kind of calls they’re going to get. The goal is to slow things down and let time take its toll.

The Pirate Negotiator

By Caitlin Dickson/TheDailyBeast.com

Ali Mohamed Ali faces life in prison on piracy-related charges. But is he a criminal mastermind or a Good Samaritan? The truth is likely something in between.

Active Listening Techniques of Hostage & Crisis Negotiators

Retired FBI hostage negotiator Gary Noesner and Mike Webster describe active listening as being a “powerful tool” for hostage negotiators “to stimulate positive change in others.”

In This Corner: Behavioral Change Stairway Model [November 2013]

“What is destroyed most in high tension situations is trust, and without trust, things will break down very quickly.  When they do, they are replaced by increased anxiety and confusion, destroying the participants’ ability to make good, long-term decisions.  It is the negotiator’s presence that keeps the trust intact.” - Michael Tsur, International High-Risk Negotiator

Police Dept. Purchases Drone For Hostage Negotiations

...And since 2011, documents reveal, the Brunswick Police Department has had a drone on hand for “hostage negotiations,” funded by a grant from the federal Justice Department. 

Listening, empathizing and building rapport to handle crisis

Buying time is one of the most essential tasks of a crisis negotiator.

"In a crisis situation-where there is homicide, hostage taking or suicide-the suspect is generally not thinking rationally," Beatty said. "If you just keep a person from doing whatever it is they are intending long enough, they will calm down, think about it, and realize how bad of an idea it is to harm themselves or others." 

Life Of An Australian Police Crisis Hostage Negotiator

Coaxing lives back from the edge and diffusing hostile situations are what police negotiators sign up for, but it can be almost impossible not to bring the job home. By Mark Whittaker  Belinda Neil arrives at the house, pumped after a high-speed drive with lights and sirens in the rainy night. The tactical guys with their overalls and sub-machine guns are setting up a cordon as Neil and her fellow police negotiator get a quick briefing outside. A guy called Ivan, armed with knives, has his ex-girlfriend barricaded in a room. A uniformed constable is in there, too. He'd put his gun down and gone in unarmed, attempting to defuse the situation. It's not clear now if he is a hostage, too. Neil is handed a ballistic vest, but it is too heavy for her to put on, so two officers lift it on for her…

Cops use Facebook to talk man out of suicide

Photo: Getty (left) PAPD (right) PAPD Sgt. Nadine Rhem and Lt. Thomas Michaels (pictured at right), used Facebook to reach a troubled teen who was considering ending it all by jumping off the George Washington Bridge.

Social Media & Hostage Crisis Negotiation

ACR Crisis Negotiation Section co-chair Jeff Thompson, along with Lt. Mark Lowther, presented "Social Media & Hostage / Crisis Negotiation" at the annual Cyberweek conference.  Cyberweek is  a week-long series of webinars, discussion forums, radio shows, twitter chats, and more all concerning conflict resolution and technology.

HOLLY CULHANE: Hero school employee demonstrates value of training

On an ordinary day at the Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy in Decatur, Ga., police said 20-year-old Michael Brandon Hill arrived carrying an AK-47-style assault rifle and 500 rounds of ammo...

But the school bookkeeper remained calm, confiding her own problems, which included a failed marriage and disabled adult child...

Tuff was one of three people specifically trained at the school to handle violent situations.

Hostage-Taker Had a Book on Hostage Negotiations

Photo from ABCnews.com

...He had intended to take hostages from the beginning, police said. They found a book on hostage negotiations at his apartment.

Proof of life: Behind the hostage industry

Remarkably, she became the chief hostage negotiator and carried through Nigel's rescue to the point of entering Somalia and delivering the $500,000 ransom in cash in a backpack.

Her experience of how to respond to a ransom demand and whose advice not to take provide an intriguing insight into the world of hostage taking and negotiation.

4 Secrets for Winning the Toughest Negotiations

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Bill Richardson has quite the reputation for brokering deals with thugs. Here's how he does it.

Transparency makes its mark in Dubai standoff

The dramatic events of Sunday, when a woman walked into the offices of Dubai's Public Prosecution and threatened to blow herself up, illustrate how much ground both Dubai Police and the UAE national security agencies have covered in recent years in the field of crisis management.

The FBI Hostage Negotiator’s Persuasion Tips

Inside a white clapboard house are two innocent human beings and a desperate man with means, motive, and opportunity to make it all end poorly.

This is what you see on your laptop screen.

What do you do?

Photo: from maritzmotivation.com

A Good Negotiator Isn't A Good Talker, But a Good Listener

"A good negotiator isn't a good talker, but a good listener."
Lubas spoke during a walkthrough at the "Best of the Best" crisis negotiation training at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater Friday morning, where officers from around the state underwent training in how to deal with specific types of crisis negotiation.

US training for MHA officials to face hostage crises

From NewIndiaExpress.com- After much dilly-dallying,the Union Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA)has finally woken up to the need to have a blueprint to train a battery of senior officers on the lines of the US government’s hostage policy, which will deny payment of ransom, prisoner release or any other concessions to the hostage takers.
And the Hostage Negotiation Training Course, which is to be conducted with the help of the US Embassy here next month, will impart expert training to a select group of 24 police officers on how to conduct negotiations with the terrorists.
...The US trainers will prepare DSP and DIG level officers selected from the various states, agencies and paramilitary forces to deal with the media and suicide incidents during hostage crisis. The training will cover different methods of negotiating with the terrorists and include case studies to show how every hostage and crisis situation is different.
The job of a professional negotiator is to calm a situation, attain tactical advantage through skill dialogue and to gain valuable time to deploy all the necessary resources.
Read more [HERE].

NTOA Webinar – Negotiations: Understanding the Incident Assessment Process

Doylestown, PA (September 2013) – The National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA) will be hosting a new webinar for NTOA members on Negotiations: Understanding the Incident Assessment Process. Det. Jan Dubina (ret.), the current Chair of the NTOA Crisis Negotiation Section, will provide an overview of the Incident Assessment Process used during an ongoing hostage / barricade incident.

NYPD Police talk down suicidal man from bridge

Lt. Jack Cambria of the NYPD’s Hostage Negotiation Team made a personal connection to the distraught man and convinced him to commit to 24 more hours. Todd Maisel/NY Daily News.

International Negotiators Working Group 2013 Conference

About this event

It is a great honour for the Australian Federal Police's Specialist Response Group to be hosting the International Negotiators' Working Group (INWG) 2013 conference.

The 2013 conference theme focuses on the complexities faced by government negotiators dealing with listed terrorist organisations. Presentations will be tailored to meet the needs of police negotiators and will provide you with the opportunity to hear from and connect with your police negotiator partners from around the world. The conference will be hosted in Sydney, Australia. Sydney is known to be one of the busiest commercial hubs in the Asia-Pacific. The city boasts a number of iconic attractions, some of the best-known being the Sydney Opera House and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Negotiations Reveal Valuable Intelligence

Negotiations Reveal Valuable Intelligence

The question of ransom payments is inevitably vexatious, involving both anguish for the families of captives and a whole host of complex issues for governments and companies.

Death toll rises as Kenya mall siege continues.

Photo: Kabir Dhanji, AP

(USAToday.com)- Multiple barrages of gunfire erupted Sunday morning from the upscale Kenyan mall where there is a hostage standoff with Islamic extremists nearly 24 hours after they attacked using grenades and assault rifles.

Top Tips From FBI Hostage Negotiator On Crime & Business

Josh Wolfe (via Forbes.com) We sit down with Gary Noesner, the former Chief Negotiator for the FBI, and the first person to ever hold that position. Mr. Noesner regales us with stories of the toughest people and situations he’s ever encountered, life as a hostage negotiator, and how these skills can translate to business.

Crisis Negotiations, Fifth Edition: Managing Critical Incidents and Hostage Situations in Law Enforcement and Corrections [Paperback]

The fifth edition of this seminal book is available for pre-order at Amazon.com. and comes out October 15.

Description:

The 5th Edition of this classic text presents a user-friendly resource for practicing negotiators and a ready reference for courses in crisis management in criminal justice, psychology, and criminology programs. The new edition has added summary bullet points for easy reference when negotiators are in the field, a review of the literature since the last edition appeared, a discussion of the strategic planning process involved in high-risk negotiation incidents focused clearly on the critical questions negotiators need to ask themselves about a high-risk incident, and a practical applied-psychology approach to personalities that engage in high-risk incidents.

Algeria siege: 'I wore a necklace bomb'

The survivors of January's siege of an Algerian gas plant still cannot believe they are alive. Forty of their colleagues died when Islamic militants took them hostage. The Algerian army opened fire on the convoy of hostages and terrorists as they broke out of the plant. It is only now that some have felt able to tell their stories.

Every call is different, and delicate, for Lynchburg police crisis negotiators

Trent explained negotiators’ first and most important duty is to keep everyone calm. To that end, it’s important for the lead negotiator to build rapport with the subject. The lead negotiator usually is the only person to speak with the subject.

National police officers gathering in Saskatoon to focus on mental health

Police officers facing a potentially dangerous citizen in the midst of a 

mental health crisis need to know they can use alternatives to lethal 

force, says a filmmaker who will address police boards from across 

the country this week in Saskatoon. Photo: The StarPhoenix

Police officers facing a potentially dangerous citizen in the midst of a mental health crisis need to know they can use alternatives to lethal force, says a filmmaker who will address police boards from across the country this week in Saskatoon.

Leaders must encourage a police culture that supports officers in taking the time to prevent deadly outcomes, said Laura Sky, whose documentaries have included an examination of police use of lethal force and post-traumatic stress among officers.

Hostage & Crisis Negotiators: Nonverbal Communication Basics

The appearance of the
negotiator matters.

Learn the skills used by these expert negotiators and how it can help you.

Nonverbal communication plays an important role during hostage and crisis situations involving law enforcement personnel.  Nonverbal communication is not limited to solely “body language” but rather includes a variety of other elements.  To raise awareness of the numerous nonverbal communication elements that are possibly present during an interaction, I created the METTA acronym (movement,environment, touch, tone, and appearance) during my doctoral research on nonverbal communication and mediators.

Journalist recalls her kidnapping, torture, rape; yet forgives Jihadist captors

Amanda Lindhout in Somalia
Photo credit: Canadian Press

Canadian freelance journalist Amanda Lindhout has written a book about her traumatic 15 months in captivity, and the torture she endured at the hands of a gang of Muslim teenagers in Somalia in 2008.

What Is Stockholm Syndrome?

BBC.com- Forty years ago, the term Stockholm Syndrome was coined at the end of a six-day bank siege. What is it and why is it cited time and again in hostage situations?

Most people know the phrase Stockholm Syndrome from the numerous high-profile kidnapping and hostage cases - usually involving women - in which it has been cited.

Responses to Crisis: Antionette Tuff and Superman

One bookkeeper’s calm, cool demeanor
saved the lives of countless kids.
Image by shaka

Calm, cool, emotionally intelligent–all of those adjectives describe Antoinette Tuff’s response to the troubled man who intended to shoot up Ronald E. McNair Discovery Learning Academy, an elementary school in Decatur, Georgia, August 20, 2013.

Rescuing Hostages- Terrorism Has Evolved

Photo: IDF Spokesperson

Three o'clock in the morning at the Ono Academic College in Kiryat-Ono. Throughout the daytime, students study here to become lawyers and business executives, but at night, the people here deal with something entirely different: rescuing hostages who have the barrels of AK assault rifles pressed to their heads and explosive vests strapped to their bodies. The buildings of the college become a makeshift training ground for the IDF Counterterrorism unit, Lotar.

No Ransom, No Release for Hostages of Somali Pirates

Suspected pirates keep their hands in the air as directed by sailors aboard
the guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf (CG 72) (not shown), in the Gulf
of Aden, February 11, 2009.

NAIROBI — In recent months the number of pirate attacks along Somalia’s coast has dropped, but an estimated 97 seafarers remain in the hands of pirates.  Many of these hostages are uninsured and negotiations for their release have come to a standstill.

PACT Crisis & Hostage Negotiation Trainings

 A full listing of the upcoming trainings in crisis negotiation provided by PATC (Public Agency Training Council) is [HERE].

11-hour bank stand-off leaves two hostages shot and killer dead

An armed siege at a bank in north-eastern Louisiana came to a bloody conclusion as a gunman shot two hostages, killing one, before being shot dead himself by armed police.

Yonkers hostage negotiator talks vet into surrender after shots fired

“We don’t rush,” Hodges said. “We talked to him to get him out of the house peacefully.”