Crisis negotiation teams: skills, communication, and tactical approaches

Crisis negotiation team faces a number of unique challenges that are beyond what can be found in normal day-to-day policing. Individuals working on a crisis negotiation team will require team members to learn many technical and interpersonal skills. These skills can be very demanding a significant proportion of this role consists of training for crisis events. Not only must the team members have a command on all of the standard skills required to be an officer, they must also train in psychology, logistics, inter-departmental leadership, hostage situations, and many more items that are specific to their tasks.

However, even with all of the specialized training, it is important for a person in this position to have a natural inclination that allows them to work well on teams. Interpersonal communication is one of the critical success factors. This skill comes into play when working as a team during intense events as well as with the potential mentally unstable people they encounter when they are performing their job duties. In crisis negotiation what the subject says is much more important than what the negotiator says, and the negotiator's use of active listening techniques call allow a way to release for the offender's built-up anxiety and frustration (Terestre, 2004). Interpersonal communication techniques, such as venting, can let the negotiator reframe the potential options that are available to the subject of the intervention team's efforts. They can subtly suggest different ideas that could bring the subject to recognize that no harm has to come to anyone who is involved in the situation.

Another important skill is the control over time and using tactics to increase the amount of time that is available to the team. Having more time to analyze the situation can often represent the difference between success and failure, and failure in some cases can mean the loss of life. When a crisis negotiation team is facing time pressures and must make decisions on the spot, then this can increase the likelihood of making a mistake. However, when the situation is more controlled and there is ample opportunity to study the options then the team can make better collective decisions which will produce better results on average.

There are many skills that can be taught to add time to the negotiation process during a crisis incident. One example of this is to ask open ended questions to the subject. Open ended questions can provide many benefits in tense situations. One benefit of this approach is that it lets the crisis team have a better understanding of the subject's mindset. Another benefit is that it allows for more time to pass so that the team can further develop their strategy. In many cases a subject will use the opportunity to talk about his motivations which can provide insights as well as buy time.