TACTICS-TEAMS-TALK: Police Managing Crises

Book Synopsis: 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