Hostage negotiator involved in 140th, Miami standoff speaks out

"They're in crisis," Jones said. "They want to be heard in some way. So we take the time to listen to them."

Jones said his team talked Dwight Rodgers out of his apartment last week after speaking for less than an hour. Not even 48 hours later, they were at another standoff, trying to persuade a suspected killer to spare a woman's life.

"In that situation, we were able to influence that individual to release the hostage," Jones said. "We just stayed the course, persistence."

Read more (& video) [HERE]. 

For hostage negotiators, standoffs are a precarious, taxing 'teeter-totter'

Get insight into a recent hostage negotiation job that recently occurred in Omaha, Nebraska.

Most of the time, nearly everyone involved in a hostage negotiation — including law enforcement officers and the person with whom they are negotiating — understands on some level that the situation might end badly.

“It’s always in the back of our minds. We’re realists,” said Lt. Rob Jones, commander of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office’s hostage negotiation unit. “But we go into it with a positive attitude. We have to try.”

“It’s like a teeter-totter,” Jones said. “Emotions are high, rationale is low. You try to get the emotions down and the rationale up.”

There are usually two kinds of people who hole up and take hostages, he said: an “instrumental” person, which is a hostage-taker who is only taking a hostage as a means of leverage to negotiate an escape, and an “expressive” person, who is going through a crisis and has an emotional connection to the person they are holding hostage. In many cases, the expressive person’s end goal is suicide, Jones said.

Read the full story [HERE]. 

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2009 George Washington Bridge jumper tells his tale

ADRIAN RAWN SURVIVED JUMPING OFF OF THE GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE IN 2009 THANKS TO A CONFLUENCE OF FACTORS — INCLUDING A STINT ON THE NAVAL ACADEMY WATER POLO TEAM.

Adrian Rawn regretted jumping off the George Washington Bridge before he even hit the water.

Rawn somehow remained conscious after plummeting more than 200 feet into the Hudson River. As the choppy water filled his mouth, the man who just moments before wanted nothing more than to die swam desperately for safety.

...“Even before I hit the water I was already regretting it. I still remember that,” he said.

THE PLUNGE FROM THE GEORGE WASHINGTON BRIDGE CAUSED ADRIAN RAWN INSTANT REGRET — BUT HE LIVED AND IS WARNING OTHERS.

“The wind was knocked out of me. That’s the first thing you do, you catch your breath, get the air flowing,” he said. “It’s choppy, so there’s water splashing at your mouth, you’re trying to clear your airway.

Read the full article [here]. 

THE BOOKS YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR: QUICK TIPS FOR GETTING OUT OF CONFLICT

IN THIS CORNER
By Lynne Kinnucan

THE BOOKS YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR:

QUICK TIPS FOR GETTING OUT OF CONFLICT

Stop the Dreaded Drama: 55 Tips for Ending Destructive Conflict  

Stop Avoiding Conflict: Learn to Address Disputes Before They Erupt

 Patricia Porter has a new MiniBük out, and we should all be glad. A companion to her 2014 Stop the Dreaded Drama: 55 Tips for Ending Destructive Conflict,   Stop Avoiding Conflict: Learn to Address Disputes Before They Erupt, expands this territory by focusing on the sabotaging effect of conflict avoidance. It provides detailed analyses of disputes and suggestions for actions. It is specific, multi-layered in its approach, as well as concise and reader-friendly.

It is also five inches tall, making it easily available on a moment’s notice.

Together the two MiniBüks are an instant-rescue team for the layperson in conflict. For fast reference, each tip in Stop the Dreaded Drama is only a few sentences long; Stop Avoiding Conflict goes into more planning and strategy but is equally accessible.

Oregon Standoff Ends & The Surrender Ritual: Saving Face, TPI's & More

The standoff in Oregon has concluded on Thursday after lasting for more than a month. The following article provides a great recap of the final moments and sheds some insight into the "surrender ritual"- the concluding moments of a a crisis/hostage incident.  

The articles touches on the use of TPI's, the importance of face-saving for the subject, as well as the increasing impact that social media has- the conversations between the subject with the FBI and TPI's was broadcasted live on YouTube. 

Some snippets from the article: 

• The end came with breath-holding moments as a Nevada state legislator and a North Carolina evangelist worked with FBI negotiators to keep the last anti-government protester from killing himself.

• Over the next five hours, the public listened as the holdouts negotiated with the FBI. An ally of the group broadcast the real-time drama via an open phone line carried on YouTube, with more than 60,000 people eavesdropping at one point.

• "If everybody says 'hallelujah,' I'll come out," he said. He mentioned having a cookie and cigarette while the negotiators considered his request.

• The four eventually agreed they would surrender in the morning – but only in the company of Nevada Assemblywoman Michele Fiore and evangelist Franklin Graham, president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association named for his father.

Read the full article [HERE]. 

3 Powerful Conflict-Resolution Strategies From an Antiterrorism Leader

No matter how intense the conflict is in your life and business, chances are it's relatively small in comparison to what Aldo Civico has been through. He begin his career fighting the mafia in Italy (his own country), then facilitated ceasefire talks between the guerrillas and the government of Columbia, which led him to work in several countries from Mexico to Haiti to the Middle East and Syria.

Mr. Civico has been in the middle of some serious antiterrorist action over his career and now teaches at Rutgers University and Columbia University. I had the opportunity to speak with Mr. Civico and asked him to share the most critical lessons he's learned that would be applicable to entrepreneurs and these are the top three insights he shared.

1) Deploy the Power of Listening. The biggest mistake most people make when facing conflict is that they are so focused on what they want to say that they fail to hear the needs of the person they are in conflict with. In Mr. Civico's own words, "When you listen you connect with the other person. Listening elicits the model of the world by which the other operates. It facilitates understanding the needs, fears, desires of the other. It also helps you to get a different perspective about your own perception. It gets you out of your head and it opens up a space of possibilities. It's the easiest concession we can make in a negotiation.

Read more via Inc.com [HERE]. 

Inside look at SCMPD Hostage Negotiation Team

WTOC-TV: Savannah, Beaufort, SC, News, Weather


SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) -

Last Thursday, the Savannah-Chatham Metro Police Department safely ended a 10-hour standoff with a gunmen at an apartment complex on Grove Point Road.

Robin Fallin, 66, is charged with simple battery and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer. Hostage negotiators communicated sporadically with Fallin for hours until he walked out of the home and was arrested.  

WTOC got a closer look at the SCMPD Hostage Negotiation Team (HNT), which is made up of 13 members, all of which have 15-20 years of experience.

"I would not consider anything that we do routine, every situation is different," said Lt. Jeff Olson, the commander for SCMPD HNT.

Read more [HERE]. 

How Cops Can Best Deal With Vets (Time.com)

How should we keep veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, and/or hearing loss from getting shot from altercations with police?

Police are increasingly the first responders for responding to veterans in trouble, including those exhibiting disruptive behavior, barricade situations, and “suicide-by-cop” attempts.

... Here are some tips for law enforcement who may find themselves dealing with veterans:

Read the full article [HERE].