Why U.S. policy toward negotiating with terrorists may be risking Americans’ lives

• Judy Woodruff:

  One of the arguments that is made about all this is that, when you pay, when you say you are willing to pay, you run the risk that you are encouraging more kidnapping, more hostage-taking in the future.

  How do you answer that?
• Joel Simon:

  Well, first of all, I started, when I did the research, with that assumption. It's logical.

  But the data just doesn't support it. Kidnapping is really a crime of opportunity. And there is no evidence or very little evidence to suggest that kidnappers are checking passports, and your nationality is going to determine whether you're kidnapped or not, regardless of the particular policy that your government has.

Read more [HERE].

HOBAS: Understanding the Data Behind U.S. Crisis Hostage Negotiation

In 2013, I was a Research Fellow at Columbia University. Working with the FBI, I had access to the Hostage Barricade Database System (HOBAS) and put out what I believe to be is the most current up-to-date information on law enforcement negotiation statistics. 

Have a look at the graphic below and read the corresponding article [HERE]. 

Understanding Borderline Personality Disorder

Crisis negotiators are not tasked with diagnosing people in crisis- the job is to resolve the immediate crisis at hand peacefully and then hand the person over to get the more long-term care and support they need (and deserve). This also goes for crisis counselors and others working in crisis incidents.


That said, it is still important to have a deep understanding of different mental illnesses, know the statistics associated with each, and understand the indictors and symptoms of each. Why? This information then allows the negotiator and team to develop an effective communication strategy and plan.


Borderline Personality Disorder
(From NIMH)


Overview

Borderline personality disorder is a mental illness marked by an ongoing pattern of varying moods, self-image, and behavior. These symptoms often result in impulsive actions and problems in relationships. People with borderline personality disorder may experience intense episodes of anger, depression, and anxiety that can last from a few hours to days.


Signs and Symptoms

People with borderline personality disorder may experience mood swings and display uncertainty about how they see themselves and their role in the world. As a result, their interests and values can change quickly.

People with borderline personality disorder also tend to view things in extremes, such as all good or all bad. Their opinions of other people can also change quickly. An individual who is seen as a friend one day may be considered an enemy or traitor the next. These shifting feelings can lead to intense and unstable relationships.

Other signs or symptoms may include:

• Efforts to avoid real or imagined abandonment, such as rapidly initiating intimate (physical or emotional) relationships or cutting off communication with someone in anticipation of being abandoned
• A pattern of intense and unstable relationships with family, friends, and loved ones, often swinging from extreme closeness and love (idealization) to extreme dislike or anger (devaluation)
• Distorted and unstable self-image or sense of self
• Impulsive and often dangerous behaviors, such as spending sprees, unsafe sex, substance abuse, reckless driving, and binge eating. Please note: If these behaviors occur primarily during a period of elevated mood or energy, they may be signs of a mood disorder—not borderline personality disorder
• Self-harming behavior, such as cutting
• Recurring thoughts of suicidal behaviors or threats
• Intense and highly changeable moods, with each episode lasting from a few hours to a few days
• Chronic feelings of emptiness
• Inappropriate, intense anger or problems controlling anger
• Difficulty trusting, which is sometimes accompanied by irrational fear of other people’s intentions
• Feelings of dissociation, such as feeling cut off from oneself, seeing oneself from outside one’s body, or feelings of unreality

*My note: Think of each of the above and how you would respond using active listening skills. Also importantly, how would you eventually counter those negative feelings and emotions? Stuck? Read about 'Strength ID's' from Crisis Text Line. 

Not everyone with borderline personality disorder experiences every symptom. Some individuals experience only a few symptoms, while others have many. Symptoms can be triggered by seemingly ordinary events. 

For example, people with borderline personality disorder may become angry and distressed over minor separations from people to whom they feel close, such as traveling on business trips. The severity and frequency of symptoms and how long they last will vary depending on the individual and their illness.

Read more [HERE]. 

Offering hot chocolate behind an armored car: How Washtenaw’s crisis negotiators spent a busy year

ANN ARBOR, MI - Semi-automatic weapons and an armored truck surrounded the home.

They’d been there for hours, ever since a woman climbed out of a window that morning, fearful of her roommate. He was threatening to blow the place up, police said, and he wouldn’t come outside.

Then, he did. For a cigarette.

The crisis negotiators on scene had offered it, officials say.

It’s one of a number of tactics at the disposal of the Washtenaw Crisis Negotiation Team, in concert with Washtenaw Metro SWAT, to end crises such as that Oct. 30 barricade situation in Ypsilanti Township, said Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Lt. Nancy Hansen, negotiation team commander.

Weeks later, via megaphone, negotiators offered a barricaded man hot chocolate.

"Hey, it works," said Hansen, laughing briefly as she recalled some teasing the move incited. "So whatever works, as long as nobody gets hurt."

Read the full story about the busy year the team had at MLive.com [HERE]. 

Police negotiator who died on Christmas Eve was struggling with PTSD, family reveal as they launch fundraising appeal

A police negotiator who died on Christmas Eve was struggling with PTSD his family has revealed, as they launch a fundraising campaign in his memory.

Detective Inspector Terry Hopkins, who served with South Wales Police, was a married father of three children.

He had joined the 9/12th Royal Lancers from the age of 16 before joining the force, where he progressed to become a negotiator, his son said.

"I do not want my Dad's death to be in vain, nor do I want the bad to be remembered. Only the positive. So, can you help me, help them that are suffering?... 

My Dad was a good man who affected everyone he met in a positive way."

Read more and find out how you can support them [HERE].  

Did you know more police officers in the U.S. died by suicide than by being killed in the line of duty in 2018? Negotiators (and all law enforcement), you do a great job keeping the public safe, make sure to take care of yourself too. 

You are not alone. It is not hopeless. Help is available and you have options: 

• In the U.S., you can text BLUE to 741741 (Crisis Text Line is free, 24/7, and confidential).
• Call the national hotline at 800.273.TALK (8255)
• Cop Line: 800.267.5463

We Want To Negotiate The Secret World of Kidnapping, Hostages, and Ransom

Starting in late 2012, Westerners working in Syria -- journalists and aid workers -- began disappearing without a trace. A year later the world learned they had been taken hostage by the Islamic State. Throughout 2014, all the Europeans came home, first the Spanish, then the French, then an Italian, a German, and a Dane. In August, 2014 the Islamic State began executing the Americans -- including journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, followed by the British hostages.

Joel Simon, who in nearly two decades at the Committee to Protect Journalists has worked on dozens of hostages cases, delves into the heated hostage policy debate. The Europeans paid millions of dollars to a terrorist group to free their hostages. The US and the UK refused to do so, arguing that any ransom would be used to fuel terrorism and would make the crime more attractive, increasing the risk to their citizens. We Want to Negotiate is an exploration of the ethical, legal, and strategic considerations of a bedeviling question: Should governments pay ransom to terrorists?

Read more and purchase the book [HERE]. 

LPD Crisis Negotiation Team's skills highlighted after suicide attempt on flyover

LUBBOCK, TX - Monday morning, police helped a suicidal person get to a hospital safely after he stood on the ledge of a freeway overnight. Thankfully, that man is okay now after the LPD Crisis Negotiation Team intervened and spent 7 hours talking the man off the ledge. This incident highlights the importance of Lubbock Police negotiators during an emergency. 

"We want to make sure that every event ends peacefully and all subjects are safe no matter what the situation is," said LPD crisis hostage negotiator, Keith Anguish. 

Read more and watch the video from EverythingLubbock.com [HERE]. 

Hostage Negotiation Competition simulates stress, challenges faced by law enforcement

More than 300 law enforcement officers will converge on Texas State University January 14-17 for the 29th Annual Hostage Negotiation Training and Competition.

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Newswise — More than 300 law enforcement officers will converge on Texas State University January 14-17 for the 29th Annual Hostage Negotiation Training and Competition.

The hostage negotiator's skill set may not be well-known to the general public, but is essential to ensure public safety. After nearly three decades, the program's reputation is second-to-none, and provides critical training to police departments both national and international. Approximately 30 teams will participate in 2019, with municipal and state law enforcement units coming in from across the U.S., including representatives from New England, California, Oregon, Oklahoma, Ohio and Florida, said Wayman Mullins, a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and an expert in hostage and crisis negotiations and terrorism. International teams from Canada and Singapore will also participate.

Monday and Tuesday are dedicated to classroom sessions and seminars. Wednesday and Thursday will see the teams conducting mock hostage negotiation exercises, where they'll be graded by top experts in the field.

"Negotiators save lives," Mullins said. "They come here for the training. The better trained they are, the better they do their jobs.

"If you look at the national data, once negotiators respond to a critical incident, their success rate is about 97-98 percent," he said. "What that means is that once we start talking, innocent people don't get hurt or killed. Police officers don't get hurt or killed. The bad guy doesn't get hurt or killed. That's all the justification you need for making these negotiators better at what they do."

Violent hostage situations as depicted in television and movies are a relatively rare occurrence, but negotiators deal regularly with other scenarios demanding their skill set, Mullins explained. Barricades situations happen when, for instance, police attempt to serve a warrant and the intended recipient blocks the door and threatens to shoot anyone who enters. Other times, domestic conflict can escalate to a person taking family members hostage. High-risk suicides are another instance where negotiators become involved with the goal of preserving life.

Law enforcement teams will conducting mock hostage negotiation exercises on Wednesday and Thursday. The teams work in one room, with university faculty playing the role of antagonists in another.

“They’ll be graded on how they negotiate with the hostage takers,” explained Mullins. “This is a role-playing scenario that tries to mimic real life as much as possible.”

The chosen scenario unfolds during the back-and-forth communication between the two groups, with some of the top experts in the field evaluating the teams' performances. All participants receive a standardized evaluation with thorough feedback.

When not participating in the competition, teams are able to observe other teams at work, to learn from the different approaches taken to the same problem.

"Many of the participants will tell you that we add more stress in the competition than they experience in a real life situation, because their peers are watching them here," Mullins said. "The reality is that negotiators can be called on to use these skills at all times, and unexpected times.

"Many of these people have been coming here for more than 20 years," he said. "If we're not helping them, why would they keep come back?"

About Texas State University

Founded in 1899, Texas State University is among the largest universities in Texas with an enrollment of 38,694 students on campuses in San Marcos and Round Rock. Texas State’s 189,000-plus alumni are a powerful force in serving the economic workforce needs of Texas and throughout the world. Designated an Emerging Research University by the State of Texas, Texas State is classified under “Doctoral Universities: Higher Research Activity,” the second-highest designation for research institutions under the Carnegie classification system.

Louisiana Association of Crisis Negotiators Annual Conference

March 13 -15

Baton Rouge, LA

Registration information [HERE].

Hostage negotiation skills provide lessons for the boardroom

Suzanne Williams, a former British police hostage negotiator, scans a room of young professionals gathered for her evening masterclass on how to negotiate at work. “You seem like a lovely group of women but I would be far more in my comfort zone speaking to a load of evil kidnappers,” she says candidly.  

 After three decades as a police officer at Scotland Yard, latterly becoming the first ever female head of the force’s hostage crisis unit, Ms Williams is still adjusting to civilian life. In the police force she specialised in kidnappings, sieges, domestic barricades, suicide prevention and what she calls “crimes gone wrong”, such as bank robberies. 

“You need to be well-prepared, whether you’re talking to some terrorists on Iraq or going into a big meeting.”

Read more from FT.com [HERE]. 

A Smarter Way to Recover Hostages

The U.S. strategy of refusing to negotiate with terrorist kidnappers endangers American lives for no good reason

Should governments ever pay ransom to terrorists who take hostages? The question divides experts and politicians. Spain and Italy have a reputation for being willing to pay whatever it takes to bring their citizens home, while the U.K. and the U.S. don’t pay and in some cases don’t even negotiate. As a result, many British and American hostages have been killed by their captors. In 2014, for instance, ISIS murdered its American and British hostages—including the journalists Jim Foley and Steven Sotloff—while cutting a deal for its European captives.

In order to keep ransom payments down, governments that choose to pay should hide their involvement from the hostage-takers...

The no-concessions countries ask their citizens to make this sacrifice because, they believe, to do otherwise would encourage more kidnapping and funnel resources to terrorists that would be used to finance future attacks. And it is true that, if no one ever paid a ransom for a hostage, the economic logic of the crime would be undermined.

But in the real world, that will never happen.

Read more via Joel Simon/WSJ [HERE]. 

Ex-NYPD hostage negotiator to bring conflict management advice to Sussex

“What I do is I offer conflict management training. Hostage negotiation or critical incident management or crisis invention, these are extreme examples. But what they involve are active listening skills, rapport-building,” Shanahan said.

During his time in the Big Apple, Shanahan served as a hostage negotiator and senior instructor. In total, he taught over 100,000 different police officers. Since retiring after over 36 years with the NYPD, Shanahan has started Keisatsu Dojo, an LLC that focuses primarily on providing conflict management courses.

Read more from JSONLINE [HERE]. 

Q&A: Kidnapping and extortion: Just another day at the office

Michael A. Guidry is the founder of Guidry Group, a company established in 1985. The Guidry Group is a security services company. Tuesday, April 17, 2018, in Houston. ( Marie D. De Jesus / Houston Chronicle )

In an ideal world, no one would need the Guidry Group, an international kidnap and ransom, security services and crisis management company. In the actual world, the Guidry Group has resolved more than 70 kidnappings and 40 extortion cases. Its Crisis Management Team tackles an ever-growing number of global threats and emergencies such as terrorism, state-sponsored violence, cyberattacks and natural disasters.

Q: How did you get involved in kidnap and ransom?

A: My kidnap and ransom training began while I was a state trooper in Texas. I loved negotiating in hostage situations, so I put myself through training, not only in the U.S. but around the world. I continued training while at the international company — and still train today. This helps me stay current with the ways kidnappings and extortions can happen. Methods of payment, items requested for negotiations and more continue to change. My skills have to change with them.

Q: Do you have any special “tricks” to save kidnap victims?

A: Basically, we take over the situation and do the negotiations. I don’t know if I’d call our techniques “tricks.” We try to get into the perpetrators’ minds and determine what they really want. Experience is important, as is learning the “do’s” and “don’ts,” and doing more of the “do’s.” Keeping our clients — not happy, because they won’t be happy — but satisfied, is important.

Read more [HERE]. 

C-K officers learning skills to de-escalate crisis situations

There were some hostage situations at a local hotel in Chatham on Thursday that Chatham-Kent police officers had to deal with, but there was no danger to the public.

There were some hostage situations at a local hotel in Chatham on Thursday that Chatham-Kent police officers had to deal with, but there was no danger to the public.

These scenarios involving actors is part of a five-day crisis negotiators course local officers are taking in Chatham, along with officers from Niagara Regional Police.

...Const. Fraser Curtis, an experienced negotiator, who is being re-certified, said crisis negotiation is a “perishable skill and obviously something that’s needed on the road from time-to-time when a call comes through where somebody’s in crisis.”

Tom Hart, president of Canadian Critical Incident Inc., with 20 years experience as a crisis negotiator with Durham Regional Police, is a course instructor.

“These type of people when they suffer these mental illnesses they’re in a state of crisis,” Hart said. “It’s really important for the officers to recognize those illnesses and develop a negotiating strategy to defuse, de-escalate and negotiate.”

Listening and de-escalating are key to successful negotiation, he said, followed by communicating clearly to the individual how resources will be used to resolve the situation.

Read more [HERE]. 

How to Control Your Emotions During a Difficult Conversation

It’s hard not to get worked up emotionally when you’re in a tense conversation. After all, a disagreement can feel like a threat. You’re afraid you’re going to have to give up something — your point of view, the way you’re used to doing something, the notion that you’re right, or maybe even power – and your body therefore ramps up for a fight by triggering the sympathetic nervous system. This is a natural response, but the problem is that our bodies and minds aren’t particularly good at discerning between the threats presented by not getting your way on the project plan and, say, being chased down by a bear. Your heart rate and breathing rate spike, your muscles tighten, the blood in your body moves away from your organs, and you’re likely to feel uncomfortable.

Focus on your body. Sitting still when you’re having a difficult conversation can make the emotions build up rather than dissipate. Experts say that standing up and walking around helps to activate the thinking part of your brain. If you and your counterpart are seated at a table, you may be hesitant to suddenly stand up. Fair enough. Instead, you might say, “I feel like I need to stretch some. Mind if I walk around a bit?” 

If that still doesn’t feel comfortable, you can do small physical things like crossing two fingers or placing your feet firmly on the ground and noticing what the floor feels like on the bottom of your shoes. Mindfulness experts call this “anchoring.” It can work in all kinds of stressful situations. For example, for a long time I was afraid of flying, but I found that counting while touching each of my fingers with my thumb helped to get me out of my rumination mode.

Read more and get all of the tips [HERE]. 

'Very tense and very stressful': Crisis negotiators play pivotal role in recent standoffs with police

Winnipeg Police Service’s crisis negotiation team involved in several high-profile calls in last 3 weeks

The Winnipeg Police Service's crisis negotiation unit has dealt with several high-profile incidents over the past few weeks, including four armed and barricaded situations — two of those involving firearms.

"No two calls are going to be the same. Obviously, the deployment sort of ramps up your level of anxiety," said unit commander Staff Sgt. Sean Pollock.

"Really, you're just trying to establish communication. You're allowing that individual to express and vent," said Pollock.

Read more [HERE]. 

FBI Hostage Negotiation Tactics You Can Use Every Day

We have all read and trained on some of these techniques, but how many of us actual practice them and use them? Have a look...

Try the mirroring technique.

When in a negotiation it's crucial to get as much information out of the other side as possible. Voss explains that by "mirroring" them and simply repeating three to five keywords in their last sentence, people are forced by nature to repeat themselves in a way that gives more information and clarifies their points. An example:

Person 1: To get someone to tip their hand and clarify, simply repeat the last three to five keywords in their sentence.

Person 2: You repeat the last keywords?

Person 1: Yeah, pretty crazy right? What that does is it causes me to explain my point again from a different angle, revealing more information that could be extremely valuable and also it helps you decipher my true desired outcomes and motivations.

Voss notes it feels extremely awkward when you are doing the mirroring, but insists that the other person almost never notices and actually feels listened to. Voss refers to this as the negotiation "Jedi Mind trick" as he says it works every time and no one knows you're doing it.

Read more [HERE].

Manukau mall siege: Woman held hostage speaks of her horror

She said the man kept telling her quietly he didn't want to hurt her.

She said the man kept asking for his sister.

Wheeler said there were plenty of police officers facing off with the man, many who had drawn weapons.

However, only one spoke, a negotiator who Wheeler said did an "outstanding" job.

She said the negotiator told the man he could see his sister when he went back to the police station with them.

Read the full story and watch video footage at the NZ Herald [HERE].

7 Traits of the Modern Sociopath and Psychopath

You hope to never negotiate or engage a subject with anti-social personality disorder but if you do, you better know about their common traits and symptoms. Have a look at the snippet below with the link to the full article at the bottom:

Antisocial personality disorder, sometimes identified interchangeably as sociopathy or psychopathy, is defined by the Mayo Clinic as: “A mental condition in which a person consistently shows no regard for right and wrong and ignores the rights and feelings of others. People with antisocial personality disorder tend to antagonize, manipulate or treat others harshly or with callous indifference. They show no guilt or remorse for their behavior.”

3. Lack of Empathy & Cold-Heartedness  

“Sociopathy is, at its very essence, ice-cold.”

— Martha Stout

Research by neuroscientist Adrian Raine reveals that people with antisocial personality disorder have fewer cells in their prefrontal cortex ― considered the most evolved region of the brain. The prefrontal cortex is responsible for, among many functions, the capacity to understand other people’s feelings (empathy), the capacity to make sound, principled judgement (ethics), and the capacity to learn from life experience (reflection).

As sociopaths/psychopaths lack empathy, ethics, and reflection, they also tend to be unfeeling and cold-hearted toward the pain and suffering they cause others. This lack of humanity has several dangerous implications:

A.  It compels the sociopath/psychopath to commit trespasses with little or no moral conflict.

B.  Knowing the suffering of their victims does not bring about ethical pause. Just the opposite ― it may encourage the sociopath/psychopath to do more harm (for they feel like they’re “winning”).

Read the full article [HERE]. 

'And breathe': police try mindfulness to beat burnout

This article can serve as a great reminder to those who constantly work in crisis situations that having a wellness/self-care plan in place is not just important, I would go as far as saying it is required. It can help you be more effective during crisis incidents as well as make you be calmer and overall more relaxed. [Here's some examples of mindfulness practices]

The College of Policing is to fund a trial of a secular version of mindfulness training for more than 1,500 officers in part to combat soaring stress and anxiety in the service, which has forced record numbers to take time off sick in the past year. Its backers hope to improve officers’ management of high-adrenaline confrontations, make them more alert when gathering evidence, improve listening skills when dealing with witnesses and victims and even help firearms officers make better decisions.

...There are early signs of possible effectiveness in policing. An initial trial in Bedfordshire suggested work-related-burnout was, on average, lower for 72 people who used the techniques and an internal report concluded: “Participants reported sleeping better, being able to reduce pain medication and feeling calmer and less reactive.”

...Stress is a serious problem for the police. Nearly 10,000 officers, equivalent to one in 12, took time off sick with stress or anxiety over the past year, according to figures released this summer.

Read the full article [HERE].