What Is a Hostage Negotiator?
A hostage negotiator typically is a professional who is highly skilled in diffusing crisis situations that involve hostages. In these circumstances, the negotiator’s job is to remain calm and bring a peaceful conclusion to the situation. Such negotiators usually are former law enforcement officers that have gone through extensive crisis negotiation training.
In a crisis situation, any person who negotiates with a hostage-taker may be labeled a hostage negotiator. Official government-recognized hostage negotiators, however, have gone through specific courses that aid in honing their negotiation skills. Generally, these courses are offered by the Crisis Negotiation Unit (CNU) or the Crisis Management Unit (CMU) — both divisions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). While local and regional law enforcement agency officers are trained in a variety of hostage situations, the FBI also trains its agents in worldwide hostage situations, such as international hostage incidents that involve terrorists.
Even after the negotiator has been in the field, his training continues throughout his career with seminars and classes. Hostage negotiators are taught to deal with captors that demand money, justice, media attention, or intricate political objectives. On the scene of a hostage crisis, the hostage negotiator talks directly to the hostage-taker while under the authority of a commander, who lawfully controls the entire scene. Occasionally there will also be a secondary negotiator, who can provide instruction and ideas for the primary negotiator when required.
During a crisis situation, the hostage negotiator attempts to determine how cunning and calculating the hostage-taker is, and whether she is suicidal or mentally deranged. The results of this mini psychological sketch can help law enforcement officials decide how to deal with the captor as an individual. To do this, the crisis negotiator gathers information about the attacker by remaining calm and asking for details regarding her desires. The hostage negotiator usually never says "No;" instead, he delays the captor by making counter offers and reassuring her that a peaceful conclusion is still possible.
Hostages can come in the form of family members during domestic disputes, strangers taken as human shields, or planned hostages during planned political crisis situations. Regardless, the negotiator’s goal is to ensure the hostages’ safety while cultivating a calm relationship between the negotiator and captor, and the captor and the hostages. When it comes to terrorist hostage negotiation policies, most countries — including the United States (US) — have a non-negotiation rule. Sometimes, however, exceptions are made and deals are struck with the captor. The preferred end result of any hostage crisis is the safe release of hostages along with the peaceful apprehension of the hostage-taker.
Written by Mandi R. Hall
