Police Inspector Trains as Hostage Negotiator

My name is Paul, and I am an Inspector in the Metropolitan Police Service. In July 2003 I was selected for the National Hostage and Crisis Negotiator’s Course – a result that would have been inconceivable prior to my participation in the Team Management and Leadership Programme. My interest in becoming a Hostage Negotiator was fostered through my participation in the Landmark Communication Programme and in particular in my training in listening what another person is saying, to get behind the words, to hear their concerns and to be in their world. I formed a team with other MPS Negotiators to support and coach me through the application process. I successfully completed the National Course in November.

Since then I have been called in to negotiate on two occasions: one where a young man had climbed onto the roof of a three-storey building and was threatening to throw himself to the ground, and the other where a woman had barricaded herself into a house with three children and was on the point of setting it on fire. Both incidents were resolved without bloodshed.

This is just one of many examples of the way that bringing my experience of participating in this Programme into the workplace continues to have a profound and positive effect. In another project the outcome has been a measurable, sustained reduction in serious assaults on the streets of my district of South-East London, and improved public reassurance.