Hostage Negotiation Training at Guantanamo

In July 2006, four members of the NYPD Hostage Negotiation Team conducted a 4-day training at Guantanamo. 

GuantanamoHNTraining.pdf

Book Review

Lanceley, F.J. (1999).  On-scene Guide for Crisis Negotiators.  Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press LLC, 213 pp., $39.95.

Lanceley’s style of writing is straightforward, clear and uncluttered.  In seven short chapters and eight appendices totaling 199 pages, he covers such issues as differentiating between hostage and other crisis situations, profiling sieges, crisis intervention, active listening, suicide intervention, hostage negotiation, abnormal psychology for crisis negotiators, and his view of the incident at Ruby Ridge.

              
The material is presented in checklist format with illustrative examples from his personal experiences.  A suicide intervention flowchart, an interview guide for investigators, and a table depicting siege types and characteristics enhance the book’s usefulness.  This is a portable volume that can easily fit into each negotiator’s kit for immediate on-scene reference.

              
Lanceley has raised some important issues for the crisis negotiator to consider very seriously.  Among these are:

1.      Yesterday’s “hostage negotiators” have become today’s “crisis negotiators” because negotiators have had to respond to such a wide variety of incidents.

2.      Crisis management is a discipline with its own guidelines, procedures, and training protocols.  Mr. Lanceley questions the existence of publications and training organizations.  Based on this reviewer’s first-hand knowledge there are in fact several resources devoted to the training and certification of crisis interveners.  The Journal of Police Crisis Negotiations and the American Board of Examiners in Crisis Interveners are two such resources.  Crisis negotiators and on-scene commanders must seek and participate in on-going training, if they are to be effective and if they are to minimize the potential for a lawsuit.

On-Scene Guide for Crisis Negotiators should be read, studied and kept readily available as a reliable reference for the novice as well as the seasoned crisis negotiator.

Sharon C. Leviton, Ph.D., DABECI

Crisis Management Specialist, Private Practice

Fort Worth, Texas

Reprinted with Permission. The Journal of Police Crisis Negotiations, 2(2).