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Inside The CMT-HNT the event a similar Munich-style crisis occurred in New York City. Later, Bolz and Schlosberg taught hostage negotiations courses. ESU and HNT were separate entities within NYPD. Soon after, in January 1973, four armed men took over John and Al���s Sporting Goods store in Brooklyn, N.Y., shot two NYPD police ofcers, and killed a responding NYPD ESU ofcer. Te suspects held 14 hostages inside the store. Te newly created Hostage Negotiating Team responded. Te hostage takers participated in negotiations, which took place largely on the street with ofcers who were located inside a military-surplus armored personnel carrier (actually a full-tracked M-75 tank). Tere was no such thing as a throw phone. NYPD did, however, take over the store���s phone system with the assistance of the phone company. It took 47 hours before HNT successfully negotiated their surrender after the 14 hostages made a hasty escape to the roof through a hidden passageway. Tis success resulted in the fast-tracked development of an NYPD resource unit to support the new mission of ���hostage negotiations.��� Throw Phones Trow phones came later as replacements for home-made, jury-rigged phone systems. In time, commercially manufactured throw phone kits were purpose-built for crisis management. Telephone communication is the preferred method of contact with a hostage taker or barricaded person. A popularly accepted method of doing this is by using a throw phone, a much safer way for police negotiators to communicate with bad guys than doing it face to face. ���Trow phone��� is a generic term dating back to the early-1980s. Tis was during the days before cell phones were readily available, so telephone contact was limited to existing phones in the barricaded area. Trow phones were also needed for locations such as wooded areas or public restrooms where landlines just didn���t exist. At that time, in some hostage incidents, amenities such as landline telephone service, as well as water and electricity, were turned of or controlled by the police. In the case of telephones, service was cut of remotely by the telephone company at police request or by ofcers on the scene. Federal p The Primary Negotiator certainly has the hot seat, but like a tactical team, negotiations are defnitely a team effort. The CMT combines the skills of a Primary Negotiator, Secondary Negotiator, Team Leader, Scribe, and Tech Support. Photo courtesy of Ohio State University Police. electronic surveillance statutes are collectively referred to as Title III Applications. Te state laws vary, and in certain states, a court order/ warrant may not be needed. While one team member worked to obtain a court order for legal concerns, another police ofcer would climb the pole and isolate the telephone communications to that building. Tis provided a reason for police to introduce their throw phone. Considerations included which telephone pole controlled a particular house, and whether it would be a safe operation. Tis was judged by how far the pole was from the house, and whether SWAT could control the line of fre. If you can see the house, those in the house can see you. Years later, as telephone companies converted to all-electronic central ofces, new phone numbers could be quickly assigned to a barricaded area from a remote location. Te new number was known only to law enforcement and prevented others such as the media or family members from getting through. Te next major agency to develop a hostage negotiations team was the FBI. Among the frst crisis incidents engaged in by the Bureau was one that took place in 1975 when serial bank robber Fast Eddie Watkins, using a fake bomb, took nine people hostage during the Society National Bank Robbery on Cleveland���s west side. He surrendered after 21 hours. Two styles of hostage negotiations evolved in the United States. On the East Coast, negotiators, usually investigators, were described as being in control, while on the West Coast, they tended to be uniformed SWAT personnel cross-trained as negotiators. For example, the Cleveland, Ohio, Police Department, using LAPD as a model, assigned the SWAT commander as the incident commander, with hostage negotiation as a sub-specialty. In the aftermath of a crisis negotiation, it is recommended that both the negotiators and SWAT debrief together. Pasco County, Fla. Sheriff���s CMT The Unified Crisis Management Team (CMT), like that area���s Unifed SWAT team, is made up of members of the Pasco County Sherif���s Ofce and the New Port Richey Police Department. Te hostage negotiators operate in partnership as one united team. Under the CMT concept, team members have various duties. Te Team Commander provides overall command of the CMT. He/she controls the assignment delegation of CMT personnel, coordinates proposed strategies with the SWAT commander, provides recommendations to the Command Staf and the Incident Com- www.trmagonline.com 29