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A Look at Hostage Negotiation Skills of American Police Officers - Focusing on FBI Crisis Negotiation Experiences -

  • Legal Theory & Practice Review
  • Abbr : LTPR
  • 2025, 13(4), pp.607~664
  • Publisher : The Korea Society for Legal Theory and Practice Inc.
  • Research Area : Social Science > Law
  • Received : November 9, 2025
  • Accepted : November 26, 2025
  • Published : November 30, 2025

Lee Keon Su 1

1백석대학교

Accredited

ABSTRACT

Law enforcement negotiations are one of the few moments during a crime scene where law enforcement officers interact with offenders, allowing them to influence the outcome of the situation in law enforcement’s favor. All other interactions with offenders occur after the crime has been committed or during undercover investigations, with law enforcement officers concealing their identities. Law Enforcement Crisis and Tactical Negotiation (LECTN) provides techniques, tactics, and procedures for smoothly handling difficult, dangerous, and unruly individuals and encouraging voluntary compliance, utilizing verbal influence-based techniques. LECTN is a method for coping with perceived threats to a person’s emotional, psychological, or physical well-being in intense conflict or crisis situations. Understanding the critical events and the person’s mindset is crucial for determining appropriate communication strategies and tactics. The key to this process is understanding and evaluating instrumental and expressive behaviors to apply tactical negotiation or crisis intervention. When negotiating with someone who is difficult, dangerous, or unruly, a key skill for effective negotiation is building trust by applying the Behavioral Influence Ladder Model. This means effectively applying active listening, empathy, trust, and influence to persuade the other party to change their behavior. The hostage negotiation techniques employed by American police officers focus on minimizing casualties and peacefully resolving situations, offering valuable insights for Korean police and various negotiation fields. In other words, American police hostage negotiation techniques, centered on a psychological approach based on dialogue and empathy, and the systematic operation of expert systems, offer valuable insights for resolving various crises and conflicts in Korean society. Crisis negotiation focuses on peaceful resolution of high-risk situations, such as hostage situations, suicide attempts, and barricades. Effective training encompasses not only law enforcement techniques but also psychology, active listening, and team-based training. Negotiations are successful when teams balance tactical preparedness and patience while maintaining control of communications, utilities, and perimeters. Active listening, empathy, and relationship building are core skills applicable to both law enforcement and personal crises. In business and international crisis negotiations, systematic planning, establishing ground rules, and managing emotions are essential to prevent hasty or detrimental outcomes. Crisis negotiations differ from hostage negotiations, which encompass a broader range of incidents beyond hostage taking. Incidents involving barricaded targets, hostage-takers, or individuals threatening suicide can be particularly challenging and stressful for law enforcement officers. The first officer to arrive on scene must quickly assess the situation, secure the scene, identify threats to hostages or bystanders, and request additional personnel as needed. Crisis negotiators must: initiate contact with the target; understand the hostage-taker's demands; and strive to resolve the tense and volatile standoff without loss of life. Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) teams must be prepared to neutralize suspects through rapid tactical action. The incident commander has ultimate responsibility for all aspects of the police response. For this coordinated response to be successful, each component must have a clear understanding of each other’s functions. This study clearly outlines the role of crisis negotiator for incident commanders at all levels who lead hostage-related incidents or other critical incidents.

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