Originally Published 2008
The negotiator stared across at the thirty seven year old man sitting on the front stoop of his house holding a gun in his lap and threatening to use it on himself or anyone who tried to approach him. They have been talking for just over two hours and the negotiator feels like he is not gaining any ground. The P.A. system he has been using was grating on the nerves of all involved so he elected to try to talking directly to the man by raising his voice so he could hear him from his position of cover on the far side of the patrol cruiser parked in the driveway of the middle class home. The result was that he was beginning to lose his voice and he is having difficulty hearing the man’s quiet and depressed words. His coach has noted that when he does speak, he only speaks in the past tense, never talking about future events. The subject’s body language could only be described as beaten down, tired and dejected. He is leaning forward with his shoulders slouched and his head staring down at into the barrel of the gun.
From his vantage point, the negotiator can now see beads of sweat trickling down the man’s forehead and fall onto the upturned barrel and then continue down onto his thumb that is resting across the trigger of the black simi-automatic pistol. While the outside temperature is only 70 degrees, he also feels the trickle of sweat beads run from his own brow and his ballistic vest feels wet and clammy against his skin. He notices that he is suffering from a variety of stress related issues such as the tunnel vision and hyper-vigilance that is allowing him to focus on the path of the subjects sweat beads, difficulty thinking and focusing on what the subject is saying (cognitive dysfunction), as well as rapid respirations and time distortions.
He has negotiated with dozens of suicidal people in the past and each has been different but none have evoked this level of emotional response. This one is different because the subject is one of us; the person in crisis in this instance is another law enforcement officer, family.
If the statistics hold true, the officer with whom he is negotiating is most likely going to be a male, with ten to twelve years on the job. This officer is likely suffering some degree of depression and is self-medicating with alcohol or some other chemical substance. Additionally, the officer’s family may have recently drawn the line saying, “Enough is enough” and they are now separated from their family. Finally, this officer, who we issued the very ammunition and pistol he is pointing at himself along with training that we gave him on how to effectively use it, may be the subject of an administrative inquiry/investigation or disciplinary action at work possibly resulting in the termination of his employment as a law enforcement officer.
Most Crisis Negotiators have negotiated many times with a mentally ill person who has self-medicated with alcohol or other chemical substances or negotiated with people who have lost their jobs and/or their families (The Double Whammy) as a result. Negotiating with another officer may be one of the most difficult negotiations we may ever have to attempt as a crisis negotiator. While we may have certain advantages as we enter into the negotiation, those very advantages may also become liabilities as we continue the process. The fact that he is a law enforcement officer may allow the negotiator some advantages such as:
- Rapport is often already built; we hold a common bond as law enforcement officers.
- It is easier for us to empathize with what they may be going through.
- Background information is generally easier to obtain.
There are also some disadvantages we must consider such as:
- We represent an agency they may have trust issues with at the moment.
- They may know many of our skills and tactics.
- They may blame us for not “helping them before it came to this”.
- A larger presence of Command staff as well as pressure to resolve the situation quickly and without any additional attention from the media, public or other employees.
- Other officers may hold us accountable for the outcome.
What makes negotiating with a law enforcement officer most difficult may be the two things that makes us good at doing the job in the first place; our strong sense of self (Persona) and our ability to maintain control.
Law enforcement, by its very nature, is a sub-culture that is very particular about whom it admits. Several studies have suggested that it takes an average of eighteen to twenty-four months to become fully indoctrinated into that sub-culture. Sometime around four to five years of service, many officers begin to experience difficulty separating their personal and professional lives thus creating a conflict in their sense of self. While they may see themselves as a parent, spouse, coach, etc., they tend to see themselves as a law enforcement officer first and everything else second. This conflict creates a persona that being a law enforcement officer is who they are and if they lose that, they have lost their identity and control of their life. After approximately ten to twelve years, some officers may begin to experience a form of “burn-out” and begin to exhibit forms of depression and behavior shifts that can lead to a variety of personal identity crises.
From the first day in the police academy we were trained to maintain control of ourselves and the environment around us. Most law enforcement officers can be classified as control freaks and are not willing to relinquish that control to others. The feelings that he may be experiencing about the loss of his family, job, and sense of self, exacerbated by depression and chemical abuse lead to feelings of helplessness spiraling out of control with no hope of recovery. As has been identified on numerous occasions, a simple formula of helplessness plus hopelessness equals suicide.
Many of these personality and behavior changes may be attributed to untreated chronic stress, unresolved critical incident stress or chemical imbalances. Whatever the cause, most can be dealt with through peer support, stress debriefings or professional mental or medical health assistance. Unfortunately, in most cases, law enforcement officers are the last to seek or accept these services resulting in a statistic indicating that law enforcement officers are four to five times more likely to commit suicide than the general public.
Negotiating with a fellow officer will require your full attention and the utilization of all of your skills as a negotiator. A few things that you must remember are:
- Protect yourself; Remember that anyone who is willing to kill them self, may also be willing to kill you. Maintain a safe location of cover, wear your body armor and maintain a safe distance. Most officers already have the tools necessary to accomplish this; we issued it to them and then taught them how to use it.
- Check your ego at the door before you begin. Don’t be judgmental or minimize the importance of their behavior. This may be their last effort at reaching out for help and they deserve someone who cares enough to help them.
- We hold a common bond with the person with which we are negotiating; they are part of our law enforcement family. While we should never be placed in a situation where we are negotiating with family, this will probably be the only negotiation you will ever do with a family member. Try and maintain perspective no matter what the outcome.
- Although most of us will not admit it, many of us have had, or known someone who has had the same thoughts and feelings as the person with whom we are negotiating. Use those experiences to build a stronger bond and rapport with the person in crisis.
- Don’t forget the basics; Active Listening Skills or Reflective Listening Skills are the foundation of all negotiations. Most law enforcement officers don’t express their emotions very well or very often. Anger is one of the emotions that most officers recognize as a “safe emotion” to exhibit. Since anger is a secondary emotion, it usually covers deeper feelings of sadness, frustration or even physical and emotional pain. You may have to assist them by attaching a label to the ones you can identify and allow them to explore them more than you would with a civilian with which you are negotiating.
- Scenario training for negotiators in dealing with a fellow officer should be part of any Advanced Negotiation class and team commanders should implement this scenario into their teams training schedule as often as possible. While you will be negotiating with another officer, finding and preparing the role player for this scenario is imperative to a successful conclusion.
Many of the techniques necessary to effectively negotiate with a fellow officer require that we let down our emotional guard to develop a better understanding of the person in crisis as well as building empathy and rapport. As a result we may become subjected to personal feelings and emotions that require us to deal with them during and immediately, or shortly after the event. Peer support debriefings are appropriate for all personnel involved in these events and should be made available for them.
There are a number of good resources for additional information on suicide intervention, statistics and more specifically, police suicides. Some of those include The Centers for Disease Control, the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention Web Site, The Pain Behind the Badge.com, The International Critical Incident Stress Foundation and the Federal Bureau of Investigations Behavioral Science Unit.