The Process of Hostage Negotiation

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What is hostage negotiation?
Hostage negotiation can be defined as “a negotiation between law enforcement agencies, diplomatic or other government representatives for the release of persons held hostage against their will by criminal, terrorist or other elements” (www.negotiations.com). When hostages are taking, it puts the lives of the hostages, police officers, and people who are around the vicinity of the incident into danger. It can also be harmful in the aspect of being both emotional and psychological. Dwayne Fuselier who is associated with the Special Operations and Research Unit of the FBI Academy states that most articles give three or four types of hostage takers. These types are the crimina, the political activist or terrorist, the mentally disturbed person and the prisoner.
Scenario:
You are a police psychologist for a major metropolitan area. You are also a member of its hostage negotiation team. You have been called to a crisis incident at 3:15 p.m. on a Friday. It is in a residential area about three blocks from a middle school and a public library. The information you have at this time is that the subject is a 42-year-old male who is holed up in his house with his wife, son, and a family friend. He has murdered his next-door neighbor and is threatening to kill those in the house if his demands are not met. One of his demands is for immunity from the murder charge if he surrenders without harming any of the people in the house. His other demands are a case of beer and some fast food soon. He wants his demands met or "something will happen".
Explain the type of incident:
Every situation should be resolved without injury to the victims, bystanders, officials and to even the hostage taker. The use of excessi...

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... be ready and able to follow protocol and assist with the negotiation team as needed.

References
Chipperfield,E., How to free a hostage:When lives are on the line, how can one person resolve a hostage crisis with Psychology. www.sciencefocus.com/feature/psychology/

Fuselier, D.,G. Hostage Negotiation Consultant: Emerging role for the clinical psychologist, Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 1998, vol.19, No.2, p.175-179

Kurke M. & Scrivner, E. (1995). Police psychology into the 21st century (1st ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers

Maher,G (1977) Hostage: A police approach to a contemporary crisis, Spingfield IL: Charles C. Thomas Retrieved from Kaplan library

The Neogtiation Experts-Create Value Retrivced from www.negotiations.com

Wind,B.,(1995) Guide to crisis negotiations http://www.lectlaw.com/files/cjs10.htm www.wmur.com

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