Forensic psychologists as police critical incident negotiation advisors

Abstract

Negotiation teams are well established within tactical policing. Police agencies select and train personnel they deem suitable to act as negotiators during critical incidents. Consultants, such as forensic psychologists, have been considered as a means of increasing success during critical incidents through the specialist advice they are able to provide. However, there remains little research on the effectiveness of the advisor role and whether it is perceived by policing colleagues to be of benefit to the negotiation process. This will be discussed whilst also considering the consultancy process and how the forensic psychologist’s skill set may benefit negotiation teams. This manuscript will focus predominantly on hostage-taking as an example, as this is where a significant portion of the literature originated.