HowStuffWorks "How Hostage Negotiation Works"
CAUTION: Please keep in mind that these people are
role players and that the incident depicted in the photo
is not an actual hostage negotiation situation.
Here is a link for any of you who may wish to engage in the exciting world of hostage negotiating. You'll note that neither DominicG nor I appear in the photo here or in another photos on the "howstuffworks" website.
The exciting, fast-paced world of hostage negotiation is often portrayed in art and film as in this film featuring Bruce Willis.
Review: You get two hostage crises for the price of one in Hostage, an overwrought but otherwise involving thriller grounded by Bruce Willis's solid lead performance.
Willis plays a traumatized former Los Angeles hostage negotiator, now working as a nearly-divorced police chief in sleepy Ventura County, California. Willis suddenly finds himself amidst two potentially deadly stand-offs when a trio of hapless teenagers seize hostages in the fortress-like home of an accountant (Kevin Pollack) whose connections to organized crime result in Willis struggling to rescue his estranged wife and daughter, who are being held hostage by faceless thugs at an undisclosed location.
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There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unaltered, to find the ways that you have changed.
I bought the SPOT Satellite Personal Tracker for the sake of my family, who worry about me when I am out in the wilderness in the FJ.
It was recommended by a few people on the Forum who own it, but I don't know anyone who actually used it. With a working first-hand knowledge about how long it takes for 911 services to find somebody out in the wild, I have no illusions, but it's better than nothing from the way I look at it. And my kids can use Google Earth to track my journey.
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There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unaltered, to find the ways that you have changed.
Hmmm... it appears that they are recommending using a larger, wider hostage, perhaps as a more useful shield from the SWAT snipers. Oh wait a minute - maybe that is on the "How Hostage Taking Works" section of the web site.
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KE5VTE
TLCA # 16550
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible - T. E. Lawrence
Does the SPOT come with a mount? or is it just like a "sit in the cupholder" type of deal?
It has a little clip on the back so I guess that I could attach it to something. Right now it's in my go-bag in one of the velcro pouches. I don't plan to turn it on unless the world is coming to an end. It has an "OK" button. I can activate the contraption, hit the OK button and it will text message my kids and let them where on the planet I am and that I'm "ok". But that's only if I'm not in cell phone range. (if the phone works, I'll call and say Hi)
Actually it's a clever little device and if you're in deep trouble, not a bad thing to have. My nature is such that I'd be VERY reluctant to activate it. Better to sling the ruck, canteens, firearm(s) and walk out IMO. I've done it before and I don't feel like a panzy. Frankly, setting off a satellite beacon (in my mind) is not unlike the little old lady on the TV commercial screaming "I've fallen - and I can't get up."
Still there could be a time, particularly if I came on somebody who'd been in a car wreck or something when I'd want to push the 911 button.
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There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unaltered, to find the ways that you have changed.
Hmmm... it appears that they are recommending using a larger, wider hostage, perhaps as a more useful shield from the SWAT snipers. Oh wait a minute - maybe that is on the "How Hostage Taking Works" section of the web site.
You'd have to be stupid to take a skinny hostage... unless you were substantially skinnier.
I was trained as a hostage negotiator by Harvey Schlossberg, NYPD, back in the early 80's. Harvey more or less wrote the book and I learned a great deal from him. He was (maybe still is) a very unassuming guy, dry wit, very perceptive. Harvey was an NYPD detective who earned his PhD in Psychology and if memory holds, it was Harvey who first identified the 'Stockholm Syndrome' (transference between hostage and hostage taker). The FBI school of hostage negotiation is rigid (naturally). The NYPD model of negotiation is far more unstructured and allows for much greater flexibility in dealing with the problem.
Harvey followed the Freudian model and I had some difficulty accepting the validity of some of the Freudian concepts in light of practical experience, but there was never any denying that Harvey knew his stuff.
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There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unaltered, to find the ways that you have changed.
Location: Parker County, TX and Santa Fe County, NM
Posts: 2,194
Re: The Scorpion
Interesting stuff Larry. Of course, I was just being a smart-ass as usual.
When people ask me why I moved out into the country, I always tell them "so that my neighbors can't see me making bombs and snitch on me". Tends to keep the casual drop-in kind of visitors away.
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KE5VTE
TLCA # 16550
All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible - T. E. Lawrence
When people ask me why I moved out into the country, I always tell them "so that my neighbors can't see me making bombs and snitch on me". Tends to keep the casual drop-in kind of visitors away.
City people sometimes ask me why I tricked out the FJ the way I did. I tell them that in order to get to "the compound", you need a vehicle that will take you there.
They laugh.
I look serious as a heart-attack (I know how to do that)
The laugh fades on the city person's face. "Oh".
The same is true of the stickers on the side of my FJ. People ask why I have them there. I explain briefly that it sends a message that only other FJ owners can understand. I suggest that if THEY had an FJ they wouldn't need to ask such a silly question.
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There is nothing like returning to a place that remains unaltered, to find the ways that you have changed.
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