1. The personal characteristics of a good negotiator include being tactical, being understanding, and having patience. But above all, it includes having great communication skills (Wallace and Roberson, 2009, p. 169). With those personal characteristics the negotiator will be able to complete his/her job more efficiently and with less probability of committing a life-threatening error.
2. The relationship between the hostage taker and the negotiator is delicate. Officers must appear professional and neutral. A trust bond may form between the two, even though their goals are a bit different, if the seems willing to have a neutral relationship for the freeing of the hostages. The hostage taker knows that the main goal of the officer is to get all of the hostages out and to give little if not nothing to the hostage taker, so he will consider everything the negotiator says and does before responding. The perpetrator will not believe what the negotiator says, but accepts what the officer says. The hostage taker knows that he/ she needs to negotiate with the negotiator because the negotiator is the only one who can help the perpetrator accomplish his/her goals or reach an acceptable settlement (Wallace and Roberson, 2009, p. 167).
3. In real life most negotiation teams receive less than five days in-service training each year and few members receive more than ten days of training and once a team member the amount of training does not increase (Wallace and Roberson, 2009, p. 168). I believe that negotiator teams should receive way more training that the current training. As stated many times throughout this book the only sure way to get better at communicating is through practice. It must be nerve-wrecking to know that you’ve only had a few days of training and that one wrong statement could be a deadly one. On the other hand, I would personally feel more confident if I had received at least a month’s worth of training while handling my first hostage situation. Of course, there is no sure way to prepare someone for their first negotiation, but it would be helpful to get a feel for what to expect.
4. In my opinion the most important aspect of the police reporting system is the confidentiality. Confidentiality allows the investigation to go through without compromising anyone as well as allowing the investigation to go as smoothly as possibly. It also allows the trial to go through without any problems of faulty witnesses.
5. I do not believe that law enforcement agencies should only use computers and not maintain any paper records. Computer records take away the validity of the record. If you have a written record, analyzers could go back and check who really wrote the report. Even though computers have software’s to check which computer was used to write or send the report, anyone can steal a username and password and fix or send in a different report. If you have the written report to back up the computer report, it also helps because as you type you may be able to fix a typo or a grammar problem. The computer report also allows the reports to be accessed easily because they are organized and all collected into one database.
6. Chapter 13 contains examples of reports from a large law enforcement agency and an international law enforcement agency. There are both different and similar in many aspects. First of all, the report for the Vancouver police department is longer than the Arizona Department of Public Safety’s report. Even though both reports cover the suspect’s physique, the Vancouver report has a checklist for every aspect, while the Arizona report has only blank spaces so the officer can fill them in. The Vancouver report gives a more in-depth description of the suspect whereas the Arizona report gives a brief description. Both reports cover who the victim is, but the Vancouver report includes the victim’s
