ABSTRACT
Crisis negotiation is a coaxing process designed to preserve human life—corrections/law enforcement officers, hostages, civilians, and hostage takers. More than any other professional or public servant, law enforcement and correctional officers, repeatedly deal with people in stressful and crisis situations. The citizen is in crisis, is experiencing stress and part of negotiators job is to defuse the emotion and thus help the citizen deal with the stress. The best way to deal with people in crisis is to listen to them tell their story as many times and with as much passion as they feel comfortable expressing to effectively ventilate their feelings and fears, and to communicate their emotions. Typically, each telling tends to lessen the stress level and allows the person to become more rational and, therefore, more amenable to a reasonable discussion of their dilemma.
