The role of the psychologist in crisis/hostage negotiations

Abstract

Over the past three decades, there has been a noted increase in hostage and barricade incidents involving perpetrators with a variety of emotional, economic, and political motives. A hostage incident may be defined as an incident in which (a) perpetrator(s) hold(s) one or more persons against their will in a location known to police. A barricade incident, on the other hand, is an incident without hostages in which a perpetrator is barricaded, also in a location known to police and refusing to surrender. Approximately 25 years ago, a theory of crisis/hostage negotiations was developed which has been continuously refined in field applications. This article will define the goal of crisis/hostage negotiation, review the history of hostage taking from biblical times to the present, review the utilization of psychologists and other mental health consultants by police crisis/hostage negotiation teams, and discuss the four roles and related functions of psychologists on crisis/hostage negotiation teams. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Defining and developing operational psychology competency

“…Psychologists provide direct support to operations that impact national security, national defense, and public safety, and this support may vary by agency and organizational mission and include (1) risk assessments, insider threat analysis (Myers, Neller, de Leeuw & McDonald, 2017; Myers & Trent, 2019), (2) operational planning support (Abt, Oliver & Nagal, 2016), (3) consultation to cyber operations (Chappelle, McDonald, Christensen, et al ., 2013; Dawson & Thomson, 2018; Spitaletta, 2021), (4) hostage negotiations (Hatcher, Mohandie, Turner & Gelles, 1998), (5) support to remotely piloted aircraft (RPAs) and the operation of semi‐autonomous vehicles (Calhoum, Ruff, Behymer & Mersch, 2016; Chappelle, McDonald, Prince, Goodman, Ray‐Sannerud & Thompson, 2014), (6) influence messaging or psychological operations (LaFon & Whalen, 2017), and (7) military deception planning (DoA, 2004; Goldstein & Findley, 1996). Operational psychology's support to cyber operations and security have witnessed recent expansion (Spitaletta, 2021).…”

Crisis Negotiation in Suicidal Crisis Interventions

“…Važnost uloge psihologa te stručnjaka za psihičko zdravlje općenito u pregovaračkoj djelatnosti ističu brojni autori (npr. Herndon, 2018;DeBernardo, 2004;Hatcher, 1998), a Grubb (2010) naglašava ulogu psihologa i psihijatara i tijekom same povijesti nastanka i razvoja pregovaračkih tehnika. Simonović (2021) navodi kako mnogi pregovarači koji su imali iskustva s počiniteljima koji prijete samoubojstvom svjedoče o količini stresa koju takva situacija donosi.…”

Untitled

“…The 1980's saw the emphasis in negotiation move from only intervening in hostage incidents to become involved in emotionally disturbed individuals, trapped criminals and domestic incidents [3]. Research into this law enforcement tactic began to further develop.…”