Lesson 8: Crisis and Incident Preventive Measures

At the end of the lesson, students are expected to:

1. Summarize the operational procedures and protocols in handling crisis situations
2. Differentiate the hostage taking from kidnapping

INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS:
1. Handout
2. Power point presentation

TEACHING-LEARNING ACTIVITY
MANAGING HOSTAGE SITUATION
A hostage situation is a set of circumstances wherein a suspected law violator is holding a person
captive with the use of force and threat of violence while the police are in close contact with the suspect
and his captive.

Differences between Hostage- Taking and Kidnapping

The difference between hostage – taking and kidnapping are:

1. The police are not aware of the captive’s location

2. The police are not in close contact with the perpetrators
3. The police cannot exert any pressure on the suspects

Kidnapping - is the taking away of a person against the person's will, usually to hold the person in false
imprisonment, a confinement without legal authority. This may be done for ransom or in furtherance of
another crime, or in connection with a child custody dispute.

Motives in Hostage- Taking

1. In political terrorism, reasons include showing the public that the government is unable to protect its
own citizens.
2. Hostage-taking guarantees immediate media coverage, and after repeated hostage incidents, it is
the hope of the terrorist that the government might overreact and become excessively restrictive
with its own citizens, thus causing civil discontent and a grassroots movement to overthrow the
government
3. Law enforcement officers will most likely encounter hostage incidents that involve either criminals or the
mentally-disturbed
a. If the hostages are taken in a criminal situation, it is usually because the criminal is unable to
complete the crime and escapes before the police responds thus making hostage-taking
a spontaneous event
b. The criminal’s primary reason for taking hostages is to ensure his own safety
c. The demands are invariably for safe passage and a means of escape in return for the hostages
lives
d. It is also very common for hostage-takers to demand ransom
4. A husband or wife may take a child hostage in custody battles
5. A mentally-disturbed person may take hostages in order to right what he believes to be wrong

Five Categories of Hostage-Takers

1. Persons in Crisis - are people who take hostages during a period of prolonged frustration, despair
and problems
2. Psychotics - are mentally-ill people who take hostages during a period of psychiatric disturbance
3. Common Criminals - are people who take hostages for personal, rather than ideological reasons
4. Prisoners - are people who take hostages because of dissatisfaction and discontent regarding
their living conditions in prison
5. Political Terrorist - are ideologically-inspired individuals or groups of people who take hostages
because of political and ideological beliefs.

Three Generic Categories of Hostage-Takers

1. The Common Criminal
Characteristics of the Common Criminal:
 a. The common criminals will generally concede to police negotiations if there is no way out and
hostages will generally be unharmed
b. This type is classified as a rational creative thinker, is able to reason, and can discriminate on
how much force is to be used against him
2. The Psycho
Characteristics of Psycho:
a. This person is unpredictable and may resort to violence depending on his mood
b. The enforcement officer should try to gain as much information as possible concerning motives,
past history, medical and arrest records, etc..
c. This type of person is generally described as full of inner conflict and frustrations which are
transferred to his immediate reality, distorted to suit his own illusions
d. Bringing a priest, wife or a sweetheart may plunge the psycho right back into the environment
from which he is desperately seeking refuge and the reaction may result to killing the
hostages and himself
3. The Fanatic
Characteristic of Fanatic:
a. This category includes the one who falls on the extreme side of violence
b. He is the most dangerous because the law, in his mind has no legal basis
c. This mental orientation only sees misdirected social justice
d. This type will rationalized deviance in terms of revolutionary zeal often parlayed by feelings of
inadequacy

Mind Barriers in Dealing with Hostage-Takers

1. Law enforcers will have to discover the hostage-taker’s intentions
2. The demands and needs of the hostage-taker must be determined
3. “Negotiation” means to talk. Stalling and talking may actually help
4. In most cases time has been found to be an ally because of the following reasons
a. The more time elapses, the more time the hostage-taker will have to think about his
predicament
b. With little persuasion, the hostage-taker may feel downright uncomfortable
c. Time reduces anxiety for as long as overt acts are committed
d. The hostage-taker can be starved out and sleep will eventually catch up on him
e. The hostages might even take advantage of such lapses and may attempt to escape on their
own
Reasons Why Common Criminals Take Hostages
Criminals have three common demands
1. Escape
2. Money
3. Transportation
Reasons Why Political Terrorists Take Hostages
1. Politically-motivated terrorist take hostages with the intent of getting as much publicity as
possible for their cause
2. The demands will normally go beyond the authority of the local police and may require the
involvement of the national government
3. The likelihood of hostages being killed is very high since the terrorists may be prepared to die as
martyrs

Four Major Activities in Managing Hostage Situations

1. Planning consists of work to be performed in order to predetermine a course of action. Planning to
manage a hostage situation involves
a. Forecasting - Anticipating conditions, problems and opportunities that may be confronted
during, and after, the incident
b. Establishing Objectives - Determine desired result
c. Establishing Priorities - Creating a sequence of steps to be followed in reaching the objective
d. Scheduling - Establishing action commitment
e. Allocating Resources - Identifying manpower and equipment required to reach objectives and
to effectively utilize available resources
f. Establishing Procedures - Standardizing ways of performing specified work.
g. Establishing Policy - Providing answers to important questions and problems which are
anticipated and which provide for action that is in the interest of the police
2. Organizing - Organizing consist of work to be performed in order to arrange and relate work so that it
can be accomplished effectively. Organizing work in managing a hostage situation involves:
a. Structuring Work - Identifying and classifying work that needs to be performed, and seeing to its
proper implementation
b. Delegating - Entrusting responsibility and authority to others and establishing accountability
c. Developing Relationship - Creating conditions necessary for mutually cooperative effort and
teamwork
3. Leading- consists of work to be performed in order to stimulate people to take effective action.
Leading work in managing hostage situations involves:
a. Making Decisions - Arriving at conclusions and judgments about results
b. Communicating - Creating understanding
c. Motivating - Inspiring, encouraging and impelling people to take required action
d. Selecting People - Choosing people with the appropriate skills, attitudes and experience to
perform specific work
e. Developing People - Improving the knowledge, attitudes and skills of people
4. Controlling - consist of work to be performed in order to assess and regulate work in progress and which
needs to be finished. Controlling work in managing a hostage situation involves:
a. Developing Performance Standards - Establishing criteria in order to differentiate between
acceptable and unacceptable performance
b. Measuring performance - Recording and reporting work
c. Evaluating Performance - Appraising work and result
d. Correcting Performance - Regulating and improving methods and results

TWO BASIC CONCEPTS IN HOSTAGE-BARRICADE SITUATION

1. In hostage-barricade situation, the hostage-takers have placed themselves willingly or
unwillingly in direct confrontation with the authorities and therefore they must be prepared to
deal with them. Since there is a confrontation, it is safe to conclude that the hostage-takers are
willing to discuss the situation.
2. It is not in the interest of the hostage-takers to get violent. They do not take hostages with the
expressed purpose of taking their hostages’ lives. They do it in 0order to coerce the authorities to
behave in certain ways and eventually to exchange the hostages for something they want.

PERSONALITY TYPES OF HOSTAGE-TAKERS

A. The most common disorders involved in hostage-taking are psychotics and personality disorders.

1. Types of Psychotics
a. Paranoid Schizophrenics - They are characterized by persistent false mental perceptions or
beliefs such as delusions of persecution. Their thinking is often loose and makes no sense. They
can appear normal at some moments and psychotic at other times.
b. Psychotic Depressives - They experience extreme sadness, hopelessness, feelings of
inadequacy, worthlessness, slow thinking and speech and indecisiveness. They have less
concentration and are prone to suicide.

2. Personality Disorders
a. Anti-social Personalities - They are repeatedly in conflict with society, thus, are incapable of
loyalty and are selfish, callous and irresponsible. They feel no guilt and have a low frustration
tolerance. They tend to blame others no matter what the circumstances are. They are probably
the most difficult personality type to deal with.

b. Inadequate Personalities- They are unable to respond effectively to emotional, social,

intellectual and physical demands. They show ineptness, poor judgment, social instability and they
lack physical and emotional stamina.

TACTICS AGAINST HOSTAGE-TAKERS

1. ESTABLISH AND MAINTAIN COMMUNICATION

a. problem-solving climate - show desire to understand
b. climate of compromise - adopt give and take attitude and by showing a willingness to bargain
and yield when necessary.
 2. STALL FOR TIME
- reduce the stress environment
- allow for negotiations external to the conflict zone.
- Permit the implementation of active hostage rescue efforts.
3. OBTAIN INFORMATION
- The negotiator can use open-ended or close ended questions depending on the initial reactions
of the hostage-takers.
- In restatement of content, the negotiator must repeat in his own words what he thinks he has
heard.
- In reflection of feeling the negotiator or must pay attention to what is said and how it was said.

4. CALM THE HOSTAGE-TAKERS BY USING

1. MODELING – the negotiator must talk and respond in a calm and controlled manner using a
very conversational tone.
2. VENTILATION- Give the hostage-takers time to talk without interrupting them.
3. DISTRACTION- use this to draw the attention of the hostage-takers away from whatever is
bothering them.

5. ESTABLISH RAPPORT
6. USE PERSUASION - Deal with small issues first thus creating an atmosphere of success.
- Maintain non - threatening communications, both verbal and non-verbal.
- Agree with obvious reluctance to any demands that might be to your tactical advantage. If the
demands are to be advantage of the hostage-takers or fall in the area of non-negotiable
items, stall for time and express willingness to seek alternative solutions
- Be alert on the development of the Stockholm Syndrome.

The three aspects of this syndrome are:

1. Positive - feeling of the hostages towards the hostage-takers.
2. Negative feeling of the victims towards the authorities.
3. Positive feeling of the hostage - takers towards the victims.

THE PNP OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES IN HOSTAGE SITUATION

Sec. 1 procedures to be followed in a Hostage Situation

a. A Crisis Management Task Group shall be activated immediately.
b. Incident scene shall be secured and isolated.
c. Unauthorized persons shall not be allowed entry and exit to the incident scene.
d. Witnesses’ names, addresses, and other information shall be recorded. Witness shall be
directed to a safe location.

Sec. 2 Ground Commander - there shall be only one a ground commander in the area.
Sec. 3. Negotiator - he shall be designated by the Ground Commander.
Sec. 4. Assault Team - An assault team shall be alerted for deployment in case the negotiation fails.
Members of the team shall wear authorized and easily recognizable uniform during the conduct
of the operation. Bonnets shall not be used.
Sec. 5. Assault Plan - The assault shall be planned to ensure minimal threat to life for all parties.
Sec. 6 Support Personnel - An ambulance with medical crew and a fire truck shall be detailed at the
incident area.
Sec. 7. Coordination - proper coordination with all participating elements shall be detailed at the incident
area.
Sec. 8. Safety of Hostages - In negotiating for the release of a hostage, the safety of the hostage shall
always be paramount.
Sec. 9. Procedures to be followed during Negotiations
a. Stabilize and contain the situation.
b. Select the right time to make contact with the hostage-taker;
c. Take time when negotiating;
d. Allow hostage-taker to speak;
e. Don’t offer the hostage-taker anything. What he will ask for will be part of the negotiation.
f. Avoid directing frequent attention to the victim when talking to the hostage-taker;
g. Do not call them hostages. Be as honest as possible; avoid tricks; be sincere;
 h. Never dismiss any request from the hostage-taker as trivial or unimportant.
i. Never say “NO”;
j. Soften the demands;
k. Never set a deadline; try not to accept a deadline;
l. Do not make alternate suggestions not agreed upon in the negotiation;
m. Do not introduce outsiders (non-law enforcement officers) into the negotiation process, unless
their presence is extremely necessary in the solution of the crisis; provided that they shall
be properly advised on the do’s and don’ts of the hostage negotiations.
n. Do not allow any exchange of hostages, unless extremely necessary; in particular, do not
exchange a negotiator for a hostage;
o. Avoid negotiating face-to-face; and
p. Law enforcement officers without proper training shall not be allowed to participate in hostage
negotiations.

PRINCIPLES, TECHNIQUES AND PROCEDURES IN DEALING WITH HOSTAGE – TAKING INCIDENT

d. POLICE ORGANIZATION FOR COUNTERING HOSTAGE TAKING

1. A police force must have an established contingency plan or procedure to deal with the problem
of hostage – taking if it occurs within its jurisdiction, first of all, there should be a pre-planned
procedure on how the various elements of the police force have to be organized on the ground
or at the scene of the incident. The ground organization is an ad-hoc arrangement of police that
is immediately set up when a hostage taking incident take place. Such arrangement is pre-
planned to delineate functions and responsibilities of responding police elements, prevent
confusion and successfully deal with the problem. A suggested ground organization consists of
the following groups and elements.

a. The command group

b. The operating group
1. negotiating team
2. investigation team
3. crowd control them
4. intervention unit or assault force
5. traffic control elements
6. intelligence team
7. search and recovery team

c. Administrative group
1. media relation team
2. catering services
3. other admin support

d. Technical support group

1. Communication team
2. EODT
3. Medical Ambulance team
4. Rescue and evaluation team
5. special equipment team

2. The scale of size of the foregoing organization is flexible and should be adapted to the magnitude
of the operations. The assembly procedure of the ad-hoc organization should be subject to
periodic field training exercise (FTC) i.e., the contingency plan itself should be rehearsed from
time to time.

3. Small compact and special trained unit should be also organized particularly in places (usually
urban areas) where hostage – taking and kidnapping that can be called upon to assault the lair
of the kidnappers or hostage takers to rescue and liberate the hostage and neutralized/capture
the terrorist /criminal elements. This unit is specially trained in such operations, and is composed of
well selected personnel who have physical, emotional and psychological stability to withstand
and stressful conditions.
E. POLICE TACTICS AND TECHNIQUES

1. The principal factors that will influence police decisions are:

a. number of offenders
b. number of hostages
c. personality of the offenders
d. motivation of the offenders
e. motivation of the offenders
f. equipment and implements of violence at the disposal of the offenders.

2. The decision to assault the lair of the hostage – takers and free the victim is the responsibility of the
ground commander, and the intervention unit commander. The decision to tactically intervene is
usually given when negotiation completely fails and it has become clear that the terrorist are
about to start harming or killing the hostages or are started to do so. That is, the government
forces are left no other choice to ensure the safety of the hostages. However, when hostage –
taking has political color and/or international complication and therefore, not simply a police
problem, the higher commander and those having political authority are usually brought into the
picture in accordance with the demands of the situation.

3. In any hostage – taking incident, a priority consideration is to establish controlled communication

links with the offenders, and negotiate for the safe release of the hostage. If possible, a police
personnel trained in the art of negotiation or has such skills is assigned in this job. The principal
objectives of the negotiator are:

a. To secure time and assist in intelligence gathering and tactics for a successful armed
assault
b. To secure the release of as many hostages as possible, in the process.

In relation to the “siege of the Iranian embassy in London the following principal about negotiation has
become clear, and is lesson learned there from:

a. The negotiator primary tasks is to save the lives of the hostage; he should be able to sole link of
the offenders with the outside world;
b. Each siege is different;
c. The negotiator should gain time, whenever possible;
d. The hostage and the hostage-takers should be isolated;
e. The negotiator is part of the incident team:
f. The negotiator should avoid exposure which might result in his becoming a hostage;
g. All negotiations must be recorded;
h. All negotiations must be conducted on the basis of referral to higher authority, thus, idly, the
deciding authority should not be the negotiator himself;
i. No single negotiator should become the sole line of communication and to avoid this danger,
negotiators should be employed a team.

4. The communications used by the offenders should be controlled by the police.

5. The isolation of the immediate premises of the scene of the hostage – taking is the first tactical
consideration of the police, then followed by the control of communication and the initiation of
negotiation. Isolation of the scene goes hand-in-hand with police control of communication with
hostages.

f. INTELLIGENCE

1. Police operation dealing with hostage taking situation relies heavily upon the intelligence available.
The inquiries being conducted by the detectives or interrogators and the statements taken from the
witnesses and released hostages produced much intelligence.
2. Observation post should be established at a place having a commanding view over the scene of
hostage incident.
3. The specific purposes of intelligence are:
 a. To assist in understanding what is taking place in the building where the hostage are kept;
b. To better conduct the police operation.
c. To prepare for any form of armed action by the police;
d. To assist negotiators in their prime task;
e. To assist in forming negotiating ploys, or ideas;
f. To provide an information weapons held by terrorist; and,
g. To assist in the event of armed intervention by the assault team.

g. ACTIVITY AFTER INTERVENTION OPERATION

When the hostage incident is terminated by the assault of the intervention unit, and hostages
liberated, care must be taken to prevent the perpetrators from mixing with the hostage and affording to
opportunity to escape. Hence. Persons freed from a hostage incident should be brought to an exclusion
area and handcuffed until their identities are established.
When the building or scene of the hostage – taking has been cleared by the intervention unit, it is
in fact a crime scene cleared to be protected and processed for every bit of items of evidentiary value.
The scene must be placed under investigator in charge, who become the scene manager that directs
search and recovery of evidence. The search and the recovery team shall normally include evidence
technicians, evidence. The search and the recovery team shall normally include evidence technicians,
evidence custodian/recorder. EOD personnel and photographer. Their purpose is to recover the death
bodies remaining in the building, to provide evidence in continuity in the conveyance of the bodies from
the building to the pathologist; to preserve and to preserve and recorded details of any potential exhibits
could be material to any court proceedings, and as a matter of records.

ENHANCEMENT ACTIVITIES
Visit
https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/news/content/36099/pnp-operational-procedure-on-handling-hostage-
situations/story/

ASSESSMENT (Log in to LMS)

REFERENCES:
PNP OPERATIONAL PROCEDURES IN HOSTAGE SITUATION
(http://www.pnp.gov.ph/images/Manuals_and_Guides/pop_manual_2013-1.pdf)