From 15 to 17 March, Sweden organised the CEPOL course 40/2016 ”Crisis hostage negotiation”. 30 law enforcement officers working in crisis hostage units attended this course.
Kirk Kinnell, from the Hostage Crisis Negotiator Unit at Police Scotland, held an interactive presentation on the practical application of threat assessment criteria in hostage situations. A representative from EUROPOL talked about the activities of the European Network of Advisory Teams (EuNAT) that support international cooperation in negotiation training and operations, as well as in preventing and resolving cases of kidnap and extortion. Furthermore, Amy Grubb - from Coventry University – gave participants an overview of the current academic research in the field of police negotiation.
As a practical exercise, participants could form negotiator cells to resolve a simulated hostage situation. They could also attend a demonstration of the negotiation bus and mobile equipment used by negotiators from the Stockholm Police Rapid Response Unit.
Furthermore, participants could convey information and recommendations based on their work, including recent cases of terrorist hostage taking and cases of EU citizens kidnapped abroad. They highly appreciated the opportunities they had to share experiences and for networking.
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