Introduction
Hostage negotiation is a crisis negotiation technique that involves communication with people who are threatening to inflict harm on defenceless civilians. The negotiations are usually between the hostage taker and the authority. A police psychologist can play the role of primary negotiator or advisor in a hostage crisis. A hostage negotiator is a specially trained law enforcement officer whose job is to diffuse situations that may have otherwise turned out hazardous. The police psychologist never works alone but is always part of the rescue team which may be the FBI, or the Police. An ideal negotiation is one whereby all hostages are released. The process of hostage negotiation is staged in the area of the incident and the hostages are usually in a panic.
In case the hostage was as a result of the interruption of criminal activity, the lives of the hostages are usually in danger (Greenstone, 2013). This is because even the hostage takers themselves are usually emotional because the event was unexpected as was the hostage taking. Their main aim for taking people into hostage is to save themselves and avoid arrest. In such circumstances, the negotiation is usually very delicate and one that requires a lot of patience and skill (Williams, Williams, & Sommer, 2014). In case the hostage takers are terrorists, the negotiation is easier to carry out because terrorists take hostages or a reason. They usually want to extract something from the government or individuals. Severe cases are usually those in which the terrorists’ main objective is to kill the hostages from the beginning.
What Hostage Negotiation Involves
Hostages are taken for different reasons and under different circumstances. Hostages may be taken by terrorists trying to put across a threat or people who want to extract money from certain people related to the hostages (McMains & Mullins, 2010). Terrorist hostage takers are usually armed in most cases. Another reason criminals hold innocent people in hostage is when they are in danger of being arrested or killed. This happens when an activity they were involved in is interrupted by the police; in such circumstances, the criminal is likely to use hostages as a way out of the situation whereby he threatens to kill the hostages if the police make an attempt to kill him or her.
Hostage takers function by threats, especially death threats if their demands are not granted (McMains & Mullins, 2010). It is the role of the police who arrive (at the place of hostage) to ensure that they contain the hostage taker’s mobility. They should also ensure that they assess all the information provided by the hostage takers or the hostages regarding the situation. The information could include the type and number of weapons that the hostage takers have.
Upon arrival, the hostage negotiation team should work in conjunction with the police to isolate the hostage zone and contain the hostages and the situation in general, especially if there is a panic. They should also evaluate the situation after which assessment of the situation is done. During the assessment session, the hostage negotiators should get organized and find information from all relevant sources available (Greenstone, 2013). The police psychologist should work (in conjunction with the hostage) to get close with the hostage takers in order to gain their trust and manage to negotiate. (To get close) several factors have to be considered. These include:Creating normality: This involves creating calm in the entire panic. The police psychologist achieves this by being calm themselves. They speak in a calm voice and focus on creating normality in the emotional situation.Creating humanity: It is by listening to the hostage taker and accepting them as they are that helps in creating humanity and making the negotiator feel (at more ease) to open up. The negotiator listens to the hostage taker without passing any judgement and discusses the reason behind the actions of the hostage taker according to the suggestions made by the psychologist (Greenstone, 2013).
Taking authority: This is whereby the hostage negotiator asserts his position in the negotiation. Here, the psychologist should ensure that the hostage negotiator determines the personality type of the hostage takers so as not to spite them. The psychologist should assist the negotiator in knowing his/ her limits and know where to back down for the sake of the hostages and the potential success of the negotiation.
The negotiator then develops the scene. This is done after a relationship has been established. Frequent chats are encouraged with the hostage taker to create normalcy with the negotiator. Exchanges could also be made. These could be in the form of food, water or medicine for both the hostage taker and the hostages. The psychologist should ensure that the hostage negotiator manages stress and explores the possible solutions to the situation. It is the psychologist who tells the negotiator on the most effective methods to ensure a successful negotiation. These should be done while keeping the safety of the hostages in mind and seeking a possible way to ensure that the hostage taker is punished where need be (Greenstone, 2013). To ensure the release of the hostages, wearing down the hostage takers is an effective strategy. This should lead to gradual releasing of the hostages, starting with the weaker ones. The release could be in exchange for a favour according to the preference of the hostage takers.
Role of a Hostage Police Psychologist
A hostage negotiator has the responsibility to ensure the safety of the hostages, the barricaded subjects, as well as the hostage takers. The main objective of a hostage negotiator should be to ensure that a crisis has a non-violent ending. Without the guidance of a psychologist, all these are impossible to achieve. It is the negotiator that chooses the negotiation team. He or she works towards developing it, as well. The policy psychologist influences the conduct of the negotiation team to ensure no thoughtless moves are undertaken. However, this is dangerous since it could lead to death of all the hostages, which is not in line with the objectives of a successful negotiation. It is a hostage negotiator psychologist who monitors the entire negotiation process to ensure that the negotiation process goes according to plan (Williams, Williams, & Sommer, 2014). A police psychologist is the key driver of the negotiation, especially through the phases of a negotiation crisis. It usually has phases, the initial phase being the most delicate because the criminals or terrorists are making a statement and want to be taken seriously by the authority. They could even show it by killing one of the hostages if negotiators are not careful.
A negotiation team consists of the primary negotiator, the psychologist intelligence coordinator, as well as a team leader. The primary negotiator is usually the one who conducts all verbal interactions with the hostage takers. The primary negotiator is responsible for gathering intelligence. This means he should be able to tell of what is likely to be the next step that the hostage takers take and plan on how to counteract it beforehand (McMains & Mullins, 2010). This is done by collecting all adequate information concerning the series of events.
The hostage psychologist is also supposed to determine the personality type of the hostage taker in order to know how to manipulate him or her psychologically. Knowing the personality type of the hostage taker also helps in determining the best approach to take during negotiation as well as how to best convince them for an agreement to be made. Depending on the way their cognitive functions operate, hostage takers are likely to react to certain cues in a particular way. The personality type of an individual is what determines how likely they are likely to act rationally or irrationally. The negotiator should be sure to maintain composure even when under high stress so as to seem sure of himself and conduct a successful negotiation.
There are several characteristics that a hostage negotiator must possess so as to be successful. This is only possible with the guidance of a psychologist. In case the psychologist is also the negotiator, he or she must exhibit emotional maturity so as to be able to handle insults and ridicule properly. His or her listening skills should be well polished in that they can listen to the most boring conversation. The negotiator must also be an active listener.
The police psychologist’s interpersonal skills should be good and so should is their familiarity with the rules that govern street conversations. Being too formal will not help much and it only attracts ridicule from the hostage takers (Greenstone, 2013). He or she should also be committed to the negotiation process and so as to achieve positive results even after the longest time. The hostage negotiator should also have trust in his team. He should also be able to endure physically.
Conclusion
A hostage negotiation process involves the manipulation of the psychology of the hostage takers so as to understand the words best suited to get to them. Knowledge of the effects that a person’s temperament has in a negotiation is critical, be it the negotiator or the hostage takers. The work of the psychologist continues even after the event comes to a close. It is he who assesses the mental state of the perpetrators and trains the negotiation team on the best way to handle the situation. It is he who offers support to the hostages and hostage negotiators to ensure stress levels are kept in check for a successful negotiation.
References
Greenstone, J. L. (2013). The elements of police hostage and crisis negotiations: Critical
incidents and how to respond to them. New Yor, NY : Routledge.
McMains, M. J., & Mullins, W. C. (2010). Crisis negotiations: Managing critical incidents and
hostage situations in law enforcement and corrections. New York, NY : Elsevier .
Williams, M. B., Williams, M. B., & Sommer, J. F. (2014). Simple and complex post-traumatic
stress disorder: Strategies for comprehensive treatment in clinical practice. New York,
NY : Routledge.
