The Safe Hostage

CAPTIVE HEARTS From hostages to prisoners of passion— Held at gunpoint in a mysterious crime, three women are soon bound by desire to the men sworn to protect them at all costs…. Carrie Lamb thought nothing could be worse than being held hostage—until she began falling for her captor! Ryan Dallas rescued Carrie, only to take her prisoner himself—and the man's hard body and sexy smile were giving her ideas no captive should have. Ryan claimed he was an undercover agent, that someone had erased his identity. Carrie had to help him get it back. With her life in danger, Carrie couldn't afford to trust him—but when he held her close, she knew she trusted no one else…. In twenty-four hours, their lives changed forever….

The standoff and ultimate tragedy in Waco, Texas, highlights the potential volatility and uncertainty of crisis negotiations and demonstrates the challenges law enforcement officials face as they attempt to resolve these situations. Hammer's book provides a practical negotiation approach (the S.A.F.E. model) that hostage negotiators and first responders can use to help save lives in situations where violence or the threat of violence is present. He identifies methods of interaction and communication during a hostage crisis that help to dispel tension and resolve situations peacefully. Combining approaches from various schools of thought on the topic, and applying the methods to both domestic and international contexts, the author has devised a model that is applicable to many types of crisis negotiations and focuses on interaction, communication, and discourse designed to bring a situation down to a manageable level. Through the analysis of several cases representing domestic, criminal, and suicidal situations, he provides a vivid roadmap to the ways in which crisis negotiation can be used to dispel violence before it takes place.

This book is about the role of negotiation in resolving terrorist barricade hostage crises. What lessons can be learned from past deadly incidents so that crisis negotiators and decision makers can act with greater effectiveness in the future? What are the lessons the terrorists are learning and how will they affect the dynamics of future incidents? What can we learn about the terrorist threat, and about preventing the escalation of future terrorist hostage-taking situations? While there are many trained crisis negotiators around the world, almost none of them has ever had contact with a terrorist hostage-taking incident. Further, the entire training program of most hostage negotiators focuses on resolving crises that do not take into consideration issues such as ideology, religion, or the differing sets of strategic objectives and mindsets of ideological hostage takers. This is especially true with regard to the terrorists of the new breed, who have become less discriminate, more lethal, and more willing to execute hostages and die during the incident. Further, many of the paradigms and presumptions upon which the contemporary practice of crisis negotiation is based do not reflect the reality of the new terrorists. The main focus of this book is on the detailed reconstruction and analysis of the two most high-profile cases in recent years, the Moscow theater and the Beslan school hostage crises, with a clear purpose of drawing lessons for hostage negotiation strategies in the future. This is an issue of top priority. Terrorist manuals from countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq reveal that terrorist organizations are very closely observing and analyzing the lessons learned from these two incidents, suggesting that we are likely to see this type of new terrorist hostage taking involving large numbers of suicide fighters and executions of hostages at some point in the future. This raises a wide array of questions about appropriate responses and negotiation strategies. From the first glance, it is clear that we are not prepared.

Crisis managers and hostage negotiators manage dangerous situations that can mean the difference between life or death. This career guide provides all the information necessary for young people to determine if they have the physical, emotional, and psychological skills necessary to be an effective crisis manager or hostage negotiator. It also includes clear and concise tips for the best programs to enter, the courses to take, the entry-level jobs to pursue, and the networking opportunities to seize. The career preparedness and work readiness content meshes perfectly with the relevant Common Core standards for these areas.

Discusses the necessary education, training, and on-the-job duties for hostage negotiators.

How effective are the methods currently used to deal with hostage situations? This study attempts to answer that question by examining the ways in which terrorists manipulate the hostage/ barricade tactic—one of the most formidable and frightening devices in their arsenal—and by analyzing the response of law enforcement officers and policymakers to its use. Drawing on case materials and interviews with high-level decision makers, both in the United States and abroad, who are involved with domestic and international terrorist operations, Professor Miller analyzes the political and psychological motifs of hostage/barricade dramas. He then looks at terrorism, particularly political terrorism, within the broader theoretical context of the general study of political violence and the operational concerns of public decision makers and law enforcement personnel.