ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to acquaint law enforcement with predictors of violence during a hostage crisis. Various behaviors, like a weapon tied to the subject, violence before or during an incident, multiple weapons, targeted hostages, and evidence of a planned siege are obvious indicators of a potentially dangerous situation. If the hostage taker sounds depressed to an experienced police officer, depressed enough to have taken hostages and initiated a potentially fatal confrontation with the authorities, then he has, or is, considering suicide. The chapter discusses face-to-face negotiations. It is always dangerous for a negotiator to walk with the hostage taker out in the open. A common tactic of people who are about to commit suicide, or force law enforcement to kill them, in a hostage/barricade siege is for them to talk about the disposition of their belongings.
