Hostage negotiation consultant: Emerging role for the clinical psychologist.

Abstract

Hostage negotiation is now a firmly established concept in virtually all law enforcement agencies in the United States. Some large police departments have their own training courses, and the smaller ones receive training from the large agencies, the state police, or the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation). These training courses often recommend consultation with a clinical psychologist during a hostage situation, particularly if circumstances indicate that the hostage taker is mentally disturbed. Curiously, although law enforcement agencies recognize the potential contributions of a psychologist in hostage situations, psychologists as a group seem much less aware of the growing body of literature on hostage taking and hostage negotiation. The vast majority of articles about the psychological factors involved in hostage negotiation have been published in law enforcement journals; very few articles appear in psychiatric journals. Those articles in psychiatric journals usually focus on the victim's response after the incident and on treatment rather than on the negotiation process itself. If psychologists are going to participate in the negotiation process in addition to providing postincident treatment to victims, then it would be prudent for those psychologists to familiarize themselves with the body of knowledge in that area. Because this relatively new role for psychologists has received so little attention in psychological literature, I highlight major aspects of hostage negotiation, including the types of hostage takers and their motivation for taking hostages, selection of negotiators, the role of the psychological consultant, victims' responses to being held hostage and theoretical expla