PST 321 INSTRUCTOR'S NOTES - WEEK SIX
COMMUNICATIONS IN HOSTAGE NEGOTIATIONS

Welcome to week six. This week we tackle a subject that most of you should be very familiar with, communications. If you were to ask me of all the incidents I have negotiated which incident was the most difficult, I could answer you very quickly. The most difficult negotiation I was ever involved in started as an argument between neighbors. One of the neighbors eventually shot at the other neighbor and then fired on two deputies that arrived on the scene. After firing his final barrage, the subject barricaded himself in his house with his 80-year-old mother. I negotiated with this subject for over ten hours before he was finally taken into custody by SRT (SWAT) the next morning. In that ten hour time I made hundreds of statements, spoke hundreds of words using three different forms of communication. The subject? NOT ONE WORD! We knew he was alive. He shot at an armored vehicle that pulled into his yard in the middle of the night. How did SRT take him into custody? They took him down on his way back from the outhouse the next morning (yes they still do exist). Communication: it must be a two way street to work.

You are no doubt aware that people communicate differently in high stress situations. We actually use different parts of our brain depending on the stress of the situation. When we are working in an environment that puts us low on Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, when we are working on addressing our safety needs for example, we are working in the lower part of the brain. This is why it is very difficult for us to do problem solving at this level. Work on a puzzle in the privacy of your office and make note of how long it takes you to figure it out. Now work on a similar puzzle with a gun at your temple and a distraught individual telling you to do it in thirty seconds or die. How do you think the completion times would differ? Have you ever experienced test anxiety? (No? Wait until you see the final). If you have, then you know that when stress goes up, many times cognitive ability goes down. The best part of the brain for problem solving is the upper, more creative part of the brain. That is why it is a good idea to try to get the hostage taker to do minor problem solving in order to get him to start working in the upper part of the brain (This is also the reason that if you are stuck on a test question and you work ahead, many times you can come back to the same question and the answer is clear. You reduced the stress by putting the upper brain to work). By getting the subject to start working in the upper part of the brain, we are effectively lowering the stress of the situation from the inside out.

We have to know how to communicate with the subject regardless of where he is mentally. You may eventually get the subject where you want him to be so you can talk to him rationally. However, the conversation will more than likely begin in the irrational realm. You have to speak their language. Can you speak “drunk”? I can. It is normal English just spoken much slower to allow time for it to be absorbed. The text does an excellent job of describing the various communications techniques that are used in hostage situations today. One area I would emphasize is what I call leveling. This is simply putting yourself on the subject’s level. If I were to say something to you about a cornpone many of you would not know what I was talking about. This is a southern colloquialism for cornbread (If you don’t know what cornbread is, e-mail me and I will explain). Try to speak to the subject using the language he understands. If the subject is uneducated avoid using words like colloquialism, say slang instead. If the subject has a PhD, speak slowly, similar to the “drunk” language (Just kidding). My point is that communication is not going to happen if you are not speaking the same language. It is very easy to get caught in the rut of using “cop speak,” “911 speak,” or “anyfield speak.” These are languages truly known only to the people in that field of endeavor. Also, we sometimes get in the habit of communicating with the general public in a certain way. The text alludes to this when it mentions that police officers are accustomed to giving orders. Do you have a certain “voice” or language that you speak when you are working the 911 center? If you do, that is fine. Just make sure that you are aware of this when you are negotiating with a hostage taker or suicidal person.

I speak many different languages. I speak one language when I am talking to cops. I speak another language when I am teaching a class. I speak another language when I am talking to children. I speak another language when I am negotiating. There is nothing wrong with speaking differently based on your audience. Just be aware of the difference and make sure you are speaking a language that your audience understands. When there is an overlap, communication breaks down. I work on the computers at the Sheriff’s Office quite often. One day I was talking to one of the county IT guys and made the statement that it appears CID’s computer is 10-109-D (Our 10 code for dead). He thought I was referring to the model number of the computer and spent several minutes trying to look up that model to order parts. I was accustomed to talking to co-workers in “cop speak,” and when I was talking to him I reverted subconsciously to this language of convenience. Have you ever accidentally used a 10-code while talking to someone outside of the emergency services?

I try to record every negotiation I do so that I can listen to how I sound and see if leveling is occurring while I am talking to the individual. If you can get your hands on some recorded negotiations that have occurred in your area (even better if you were the negotiator), listen to them and see if the negotiator is leveling the communications. By leveling the communications you get a better grasp on the suspect’s mental angle on the situation. This helps you think more like him. Being able to think like the suspect, makes it easier to anticipate the direction the conversation will take thereby facilitating a thoughtful response instead of a reactive one. While we may want the suspect to believe that our responses are “off-the-cuff,” in reality our responses should be thoughtfully considered.

Language differences are definitely a barrier to communication in the examples given above, but what about traditional language barriers? Most often there are people of other races, languages, or cultures residing in your community. While you can use an interpreter while talking to people who speak another language, is leveling possible? With leveling, culture is a major part. You have to consider the language barrier as well as the cultural barrier. This can be a challenge. There are ways of addressing this problem. First, try to use interpreters that are familiar with the culture as well as the language. Second, spend some time learning about the different cultures that are represented in your community. Consider attending cultural diversity training. Many times different cultures in a community have cultural centers that would be pleased to have the opportunity to share the nuances of the culture with an outsider. The golden rule here is to try. Most people, even hostage takers, can appreciate someone who is making a great effort to improve the situation. I have also noticed from watching other people that if you are talking to someone who speaks another language, the louder you speak the better he understands (Please tell me you knew that I was only kidding with that last statement).

Negotiation Golden Rule # 5: “It does not matter what you meant to say, or even what you actually did say. What is most important is what the subject understood you to say, because that is what you really communicated.”

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PST 321 INSTRUCTOR'S NOTES - WEEK SIX COMMUNICATIONS IN HOSTAGE NEGOTIATIONS

PST 321 INSTRUCTOR'S NOTES - WEEK SIX
COMMUNICATIONS IN HOSTAGE NEGOTIATIONS