ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses risk assessment and the issues important to making accurate risk assessments during an incident, how risk changes with time predictors of risk, unique factors associated with violence in domestic violence incidents, and the relationship between mental illness and violence. In assessing risk, negotiators are taught how to use brainstorming techniques to estimate risk. Intelligence gathering is discussed, along with its importance in negotiations and helping assess risk. The difference between intelligence and information is discussed, along with strategies negotiators can employ to separate the two. The fusion process is presented and how it can be used to help gather, analyze, and disseminate intelligence. For each phase of a crisis incident, techniques negotiators can use to facilitate intelligence and use of intelligence are presented, including the precrisis phase. Assessing the reliability and validity of intelligence is critical, and methods for making assessments are presented. The use of the structured cognitive interview is discussed.
