TACTICS-TEAMS-TALK: Police Managing Crises

In the Fall of 1973, Detective Harvey Schlossberg, PhD, and Lt. Frank Bolz, both New York Police Department (NYPD) visionaries, brought their magic to the San Francisco Police Department's (SFPD) Police Academy, at my request, so that we mere mortals could learn the trade of dealing with terrorists, criminal hostage-takers, and your average human in some sort of mind-bending crisis.

It has taken me the bulk of fifty years to put together the teachings of Harvey, Frank, and many, many others (including my own teaching, writing and field experiences) into a three subject treatise called, TACTICS - TEAMS - TALK, Police Managing Crises.

The first subject is TACTICS. Here, we outline some basic principles of police crises planning to include strategies; information gathering; establishing objectives, policies, protocols; and resources. Then we outline individual tactics designed to protect responders from harm in their responses.

The second subject is TEAMS. Here, we discuss organizing the crisis response into teams. We present a situation chart that identifies team roles, including tactical and command leadership; containment and cover; traffic control; evacuation and aid; entry and rescue; investigations and negotiations; and resources and reserves.

The third subject is TALK. Here, we discuss investigating and negotiating strategies; the eight steps of investigating; the role of crisis negotiating; the eight links of a negotiating strategy; the negotiating team; the eight tools of communicating; and several other interesting topics.

So, this is my story and I'll be sticking to it, hopefully in plain English and in abbreviated form so we call all understand the processes involved. But before we start, bear with me while I define some terms we will be using throughout our work.

PART ONE TACTICS

CHAPTER 1 TACTICAL PLANNING

CHAPTER 2 INDIVIDUAL MANEUVER WHEN UNDER THREAT OF WEAPONS FIRE

CHAPTER 3 CONDUCTING A DETAILED VISUAL SEARCH

CHAPTER 4 SEARCHING TACTICS

CHAPTER 5 SIGNALS

CHAPTER 6 ENCOUNTERING LETHAL THREATS

PART TWO TEAMS

CHAPTER 7 ORGANIZING TEAMS THE SITUATION CHART

CHAPTER 8 THE COMMAND-AND-CONTROL TEAM

CHAPTER 9 THE COVER AND CONTAIN TEAM

CHAPTER 10 THE ENTRY AND RESCUE TEAM

CHAPTER 11 THE TRAFFIC CONTROL TEAM

CHAPTER 12 THE EVACUATION AND AID TEAM

CHAPTER 13 THE INVESTIGATION AND NEGOTIATION TEAM

CHAPTER 14 THE BOMB THREAT TEAM

CHAPTER 15 THE CROWD CONTROL TEAM

CHAPTER 16 THE RESOURCES AND RESERVE TEAM

PART THREE TALK

CHAPTER 17 INVESTIGATIVE TEAM TACTICS

CHAPTER 18 NEGOTIATING TEAM TACTICS