TEXAS STATE UNIVERSITY
Hoping for the best is always encouraged, but law enforcement officers prepared for the worst during the 34th annual Crisis Negotiation Competition and Seminar. Teams from police precincts all over Texas gathered in San Marcos the week before the Spring semester began for a three-day training competition focused on hostage negotiations. Officers participated in a two-day simulation where their task was to negotiate with hostage-takers to deescalate the situation and return hostages to safety, followed by a seminar on the last day. Stations were set up throughout the Criminal Justice building at TXST and throughout campus where criminal justice students, volunteers and actors played the roles of hostage-takers.
Over thirty teams competed this year. Law enforcement teams are mainly from Texas, but the competition is open to all law enforcement with teams traveling from California, New York, Oklahoma and Virginia. There was even an international team traveling from Singapore. Judges were brought in from a variety of policing backgrounds including Andy Brown, formally the team leader for the Scottish National Police and who is now the lead negotiator for the Order of the Jesuits. Other international judges included Thomas Greis who is the team leader of the Austrian National Police Force and Matthias Prohl who is the team leader for the German National Police.
