Assignment
This unit examines the role psychologists play in crisis negotiations. The traditional rule of thumb is that a police psychologist is a member of the hostage negotiating team but should not be the actual person engaged in actual negotiations with the suspect.
In considering this debate please read the following two articles.
•Hatcher, C., Mohandie, K., Turner, J. & Gelles, M.G. (1998). The role of psychologists in crisis/hostage negotiations.Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 16, 455-472.
•Ebert, B.W. (1986). The mental health response team: An expanding role for psychologists. Professional Psychology, Research and Practice, 17, 6, 580-585.
Hatcher et al. (1998) argue that a psychologist can play one four roles in crisis negotiations but not act the primary negotiator while Ebert (1986) argues that the best person to negotiate with suspects is the police psychologist.
In a 300-400 word post in the thread to the left titled "Research Assignment," analyze the pros and cons of a police psychologist serving as the primary negotiator using evidence and examples from these articles.