Burleson Police Crisis Negotiation Team earns first place in competition

by PegNews wire

Wow, Burleson PD happens to be master negotiators. Who knew.

The Burleson Police Department's five-man Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) competed for the first time last week at the annual hostage negotiation training and competition hosted by Texas State University’s department of criminal justice in San Marcos, and took home first place.

“I am elated with the achievement of our crisis negotiation team,” Burleson Police Chief Tom Cowan said. “They are a dedicated team of professionals who constantly strive for excellence. The high level of competition makes their accomplishment all the more remarkable.”

The Burleson team of sergeants Bob Sherman, Melvin McGuire and Darin Pool, Detective Tom Catron and Officer Brad Schaefer competed against 23 teams of officers from Hays, Comal, Travis and Williamson counties; municipal teams from San Marcos, Austin, San Antonio and Richardson; the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Federal Correctional Institute and other departments from as far away as Indiana.

Each team was judged by one head judge and a panel of up to four additional hostage negotiators from other departments. Teams were graded on how they negotiated with several hostage takers. Their use of active listening skills and intelligence information, brainstorming and other team functions were scrutinized by the judges.

Teams began the week with a short training class on Monday, Jan. 12, followed up with a full day of negotiation training on Tuesday. Teams participated in a mock hostage negotiation exercise that took place from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday.

“This was our first time competing at this annual competition,” Sgt. Sherman, leader of the team, said. “We knew we would be up against cities that had two or three times the number of negotiators than what we had so we went into it with the expectation of using it as a good training experience. The team put its best game forward and to our surprise, we won. I couldn’t be more proud of the way the guys performed.”

Burleson's crisis negotiators are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. While it is preferred that the entire team respond to an incident, a single negotiator can respond to get the ball rolling. Burleson negotiators have assisted officers in Crowley, Forest Hill and Johnson County.

Negotiators may be called out to anything from suicidal persons to hostage incidents, barricaded persons and high risk warrant service. The team's tools include a mobile command post, wireless public address system, self-contained throw phone system, mobile phones and bull horn.

Negotiators receive a minimum of 40 hours of education during the initial training. It is also preferred that they receive a minimum of 40 hours of additional classes each year. Burleson negotiators train for at least four hours each month. They also attend quarterly exercises as well as an annual conference hosted by the Texas Association of Hostage Negotiators (TAHN).

This is not the first honor the CNT has earned. In 2006, the Burleson team was selected as the Team of the Year by TAHN for successfully negotiating an incident involving an armed suspect holding a young child hostage in Forest Hill.

Burleson has had the expertise of negotiators in the department since 1986 when sergeants Doug Sandifer (now a commander), Wade Pearcy (retired) and Lt. Bob Douglas (retired) trained to be the first in Burleson.

Sgt. Sherman started crisis negotiation as a volunteer at a Fort Worth suicide hot line in 1985. He attended a basic hostage negotiation course in 1986 and in 1989 joined TAHN. He joined the Burleson Police Department in 1993. In January 1997, he was elected to the TAHN board of directors and began serving as the vice president of public relations. In 2004, he was selected as the TAHN Member of the Year. In 2008, the sergeant was honored as the fifth TAHN member to be given an honorary life membership.

Sgt. McGuire was hired by Burleson in 1989. He became a crisis negotiator in 1997.

Sgt. Pool has been employed with the Burleson Police Department since 1994. He has been a member of the CNT since 1999 when he attended his basic negotiation school at the North Central Texas Council of Governments.

Det. Catron joined the Burleson Police Department in 2002. A year later he completed the basic negotiator training and has been an active member of the team ever since. Catron has assisted with creating conference training CD's and taught classes during the annual training conferences.

Officer Schaefer joined the police department in June 2005. He has attended several hostage negotiation training classes and is scheduled to attend the basic training class in Plano.

“I am very proud of the team,” Commander Chris Havens said. “They have always worked well together and they are very talented and dedicated individuals. This shows that their training has paid off. The citizens of Burleson are very fortunate to have them in case the need ever arises."

Source: City of Burleson

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