Non-Hostage Negotiation Techniques

• Non-hostage situations involve individuals held for expressive reasons, typically without demands, making them potential homicide victims.
• These situations can include barricaded subjects, suicide attempts, or domestic disputes, lacking a clear goal.

Strategies and Techniques

• Avoid techniques that may manipulate anxiety in non-hostage situations.
• Use restraint and low-profile containment to demonstrate peaceful intentions.
• The subject's perception of the incident determines hostage vs. non-hostage classification.

Active Listening Skills

• Emotion labeling involves identifying feelings by saying, "You sound..." or "You seem..."
• Effective pauses are useful immediately before or after saying something important.
• Minimal encouragers, such as "Uh huh" or "Ok," indicate your presence and attention.
• "I Messages" express feelings: "I feel... when you... because..."
• Open-ended questions start with "What," "When," or "How," or phrases like "Tell me about..."
• Summarize the conversation periodically, including both the history and feelings involved.

Crisis Management Terms

• Prepare responses for statements like "I don’t wanna go to jail."
• Technology like LETS or Callyo enables remote listening.

Key Cases

• Stockholm Syndrome: Originated in Sweden, August 1973 and requires observable clues for identification.
• Waco Siege: Took place from February to April 1993.

Day 2 Strategies

• Contain, isolate, and negotiate.
• Verbal containment involves contacting the subject quickly to occupy them, reduce firing on police, project a calm demeanor, and address concerns; this also minimizes misunderstandings.
• Subject must want to live.
• A unified strategy is essential.
• Stalling techniques involve active listening skills.
• Action Imperative involves pressure for resolution, addressing exhaustion, boredom, injuries, or illness.

Demands

• Make the subject "work" for anything they receive in bargaining.
• Ground the subject in reality by stating, "No one is going to come in, but we aren’t leaving either!"
• Demands such as wanting a different negotiator aren't negotiable

Active Listening Skills

• Emotional Labeling
• Paraphrasing
• Mirroring / Reflecting
• Summarizing
• Open-Ended Questions
• Minimal Encouragers
• Effective Pauses
• "I" Messages
• Empathy

Questions

• What happened
• How would you like this to end

Phrases to Avoid

• "Calm Down"
• "I understand"

Damaging Phrases

• Why
• You should
• You shouldn’t
• Better

Recommended Phrases

• "I can see/hear how angry you are."
• "I'm listening."
• "What causes that?" or "Where's that coming from?"

Information Gathering

• Use third-party intermediaries.

Back to Basics Review

• Crisis Catalysts: Lack of coping mechanisms, finances, legal issues, domestic issues, loss or grief.
• Active listening, empathy, rapport, influence, and changes in behavior are important.

Downs vs. US

• Downs case (FBI and plane hijacking) is important to negotiations.

Principles of Negotiation

• Three Es: Ethics, empathy, and ego.
• Active listening: 80/20 rule (they speak 80%).
• Three As: Attention, attitude (constructive), and adjustment of attitude.
• Three Cs: Contain, control, communicate.

Words to Avoid

• Calm down
• I understand/know
• Why
• You should/don’t you think
• No
• You don’t understand
• Hostage negotiator
• Kill/shoot
• Surrender/give up
• SWAT team
• Jail
• End it
• Crime/sentence
• Dead institution
• Give you my best shot

Hooks

• Hooks build rapport

Stockholm Syndrome

• Trauma bonds form between hostage and hostage taker; look for observable behaviors (e.g., loading a gun for them, marrying the offender).

Hostage vs. Non-Hostage/Barricade

• Understand and describe differences to get to both

Indicators of Progress

• List several indicators

Critical Incident Times

• Initial onset
• Hostage rescue/SWAT intervention (deliveries)
• Surrender/resolution phase

HOABS

• Most hostage/barricade situations last 2-4 hours.

Displaying Empathy

• Paraphrase what they said in tone and pace, using active listening, body language, and facial expressions (non-verbals).

Team Commander's Role

• Request negotiators
• Confer with OSC and TOC about procedures
• Assign NOC positions
• Assess negotiation needs
• Interview responding officers
• Decide on negotiation strategy
• Locate NOC placement
• Ensure everyone has a job

Hostage Survival Strategies

• Accept the situation
• Do not attempt escape unless success is 100% guaranteed
• Inform hostage takers of medical issues
• Observe surroundings

Problematic Demands

• Reject demands that eliminate rapport such as wanting a different negotiator

Critical Time Factors

• Stockholm syndrome, intensity of the situation, fear, and helplessness.

Checking on Hostages

• Check on hostages periodically, maintaining balance, and assume the suspect is listening.

Indicators of Progress

• Reduction of violent behavior.
• Hostage releases.

Contact Planning

• Prepare a checklist of objectives/ideas/Relevant intelligent data on situation boards
• Brainstorm potential responses.
• Listen actively and summarize periodically.
• Tone, demeanor, and sincerity are most important.
• Paper information for non-responsive subjects.

Influence/Persuasion

• Understand needs, wants, values, and beliefs.
• Back up (space).
• "I don’t want to go to jail" (freedom).
• "I gotta have a beer" (comfort, thirst, sedative, medication).
• "Call me Mr. Young."
• "We don’t just let this happen to people."
• "Don’t tell me what to do."
• "I’m good and don’t need help."

Summary of Influence/Persuasion

• Affiliation (knows people).
• Autonomy (plans, free will).
• Status (family).
• Appreciation.
• Role.

Persuasion Tactics

• Reciprocity (give something to get something)
• Liking (first impression)
• Authority (expertise/experience; mention training when transitioning negotiators)
• Social proof (others have made it)
• Consistency (pattern of answering yes)
• Scarcity (limited safety)

Persuasion Factors

• Significance, unexpectedness, personalization.

"Rapport: 5 Ways to Influence" (Alison and Alison)

• Honesty.
• Reflection/ALS.
• Evocation (draw out needs, wants, values, beliefs).
• Autonomy.
• Adaptation (align with their personality/agenda).

Overcoming Resistance

• Use specific phrases to assist

Phrase Alternatives

• "Here to help" vs. "Let’s sort this out together."
• "Talk to me" vs. "Speak with me."
• "I need you to" vs. "Would you be willing to."

Threats

• Offensive threats occur
• Defensive threats: "If you do this, then I’m going to have to do this..."

Predicting Suicide

• Weak predictors: Age under 25 or over 65.
• Strong predictors: History of previous attempts, detailed plan, lack of support.

Overview of Psychiatric Conditions

• Psychotic Disorder: Loss of touch with reality.
• Mood Disorder: Disturbance in mood; awareness but inability to change mood.
• Anxiety Disorder: Inappropriate activation of fight-or-flight; aware but unable to fix it.
• Personality Disorder: Extreme personality traits (e.g., narcissism, antisocial, borderline); lack of self-awareness; manipulative, rigid, inflexible.