Hostage Or Non-Hostage? That is The Question

“Ma’am, here’s what we know so far.  Suspect, John Doe of Any Address, is holding his estranged wife, Jane Doe against her will.  Apparently, Doe is an alcoholic who is prone to violence against Jane when he is drunk.  This is what led her to get the Protective Order against him.  The PO prohibits him from coming within 500 feet of her and their son, Sam.  He showed up today at her home to ‘talk things out’.  This led to an argument.  A concerned neighbor came across the street to check on Jane.  She was met at the door by John who had a pistol in his hand.  The neighbor then called us. The first officers on scene were met with the standard, ‘Go away and leave us alone.  We didn’t call you and we don’t need you’.  He is not answering the phone.  This is a classic non-hostage situation.”  Upon hearing this, the Incident Commander looks at the negotiations team leader with confusion.  The look of confusion soon morphs into anger as her stress level is now compounded by someone who is basically speaking French to her.  She replies, “Wait a minute.  I thought you told me he was in there with his wife?”   “I did.”  “Then how is it not a hostage incident?”  “Ma’am, I said non-hostage.  Let me explain.”

This is a fictional representation of a real command post conversation about one of the least articulated and understood components in hostage/barricade management; hostage versus non-hostage.  Understanding the difference between the two is important in developing your strategy to resolve an incident.  In the early 2000s,  if not earlier, versed practitioners in hostage/barricade management began to categorize events as either hostage or non-hostage, regardless of the motivations and criminal or mental history of the suspect.  Despite 15 plus years of this, a striking number of agencies do not know about or use the categories as a part of their threat assessment.

A Hostage event is described as one in which the person or persons being held are leverage to force a third party to fulfill a demand.  These usually start out as another crime but morph into a hostage-taking spontaneously in response to an unexpected interruption in their original plan.

A Non-Hostage event, also referred to as a barricade-with-victims, is described as an event in which the person or persons being held (or the location of the crisis site) were specifically selected because of some real or perceived previous relationship.  They usually lack substantive demands and are in a state of elevated emotions and/or irrationality.  The persons being held are not used as leverage but rather are the objects against whom the suspect is directing his aggression.  The persons being held run a high risk of violence being perpetrated against them.  

Of the two, clearly the Non-Hostage event is more dangerous which is why one of the first questions I ask when responding to an incident is, what is the relationship between the person holding and the person being held?  Is there a relationship between the person holding and the crisis site?  The answer helps you make assessments about risk and strategy.  Things to consider when dealing with each.

Hostage Event:

• Most likely to occur in a public setting
• More conducive to high profile police containment
• Early opportunity to influence and control behavior
• Path to returning the subject to a normal functioning level not as difficult
• Subject needs police to facilitate demands
• Having demands met is primary motivation; not harming the hostages

Hostage events support the use of exhaustive bargaining and techniques to stall or delay.  Understand the rule of reciprocity.  Make him or her work for everything he gets.  This tends to lower the subject’s expectations and, unless the subject is suicidal, usually leads to surrender.

Non-Hostage Event:

• More likely to occur in a residence or specifically selected location
• High profile police containment is counter-productive
• Less opportunity to influence, control behavior, or bargain
• Strong resistance if taking place in residence
• Emotion is motivating behavior—anger, rage, frustration, embarrassment
• Lack of substantive demands
• Absence of rational thinking
• Needs nothing from the police

Non-hostage events are more responsive to empathetic crisis intervention skills to lower the subject’s emotions and raise their rationality.  This too, will take time.  Patience is critical.  Avoid anxiety manipulation as these subjects are hyper vigilant and the slightest police activity can be viewed as provocative or threatening.  

This article provides but a cursory overview.  Total immersion in the topics is recommended in order to appreciate what motivates behavior and identifying the appropriate response.  Whether an interrupted bank robbery where the subject is holding customers as means to an end or an estranged husband, in violation of a protective order breaks into his wife’s home and holding her at gunpoint with no demand, the successful resolution rests in understanding the different dynamics each.