NCJ Number
160295
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 64 Issue: 10 Dated: (October 1995) Pages: 7-11
Date Published
1995
Length
5 pages
Annotation
Incidents involving barricaded subjects, hostage takers, and persons threatening suicide represent especially stressful experiences for police officers who respond to them, and crisis negotiators should establish contact with subjects, identify their demands, and work to resolve tense and often volatile standoffs without loss of life.
Abstract
A coordinated response involving crisis negotiators, tactical police officers, and police supervisors is necessary so that handling a crisis incident is not delayed by crisis negotiators having to explain or justify their intended course of action. To enhance cooperation, crisis negotiators and tactical police officers should train together on a regular basis. Such training should focus on hostage taking, barricade situations, and suicide attempts and on the crisis negotiation process itself. Basic police procedures require that any crisis incident be contained using both inner and outer perimeters established and maintained by the police; during a protracted crisis, police should also control telephone lines. Police field commanders should resist the tendency to monitor the crisis negotiation process personally, especially since much of the insight into the minds of troubled subjects comes from the specialized psychological training crisis negotiators receive. Concern for hostage and police officer safety dictates that police officers respond to a crisis incident at the lowest force level possible, and police commanders should be prepared to supervised a negotiated settlement. 1 endnote and 2 photographs