Our regular contributor Una Riley began by jumping in a cab and telling the cabbie where she wanted to be dropped off… a private address in London.
The cabbie proceeded to give me a quizzical look through his rear view mirror and asked me if I was ‘Special Services’, as the address was where the SAS hung out! If you want to know anything – ask a London cabbie! I arrived at my destination to be greeted by Suzanne Williams QPM, formerly an internationally acclaimed Senior Scotland Yard Detective, renowned for her crisis negotiation and kidnap investigations in the UK and worldwide. These days she is a businesswoman and her expertise in crisis management and life-saving decision-making is frequently called upon by foreign governments and law enforcement agencies. On arrival Suzanne offered me a coffee and we sunk into two comfy easy-chairs to talk about her current role as a hostage negotiator. Like most people my knowledge of hostage negotiations are derived from movies and TV where a criminal uses innocent people as bargaining chips. This kind of scene has been played out on TV, from individuals to terrorists, but thank goodness for most of us, we never experience this situation in real life. However, for people like Suzanne Williams it is her day to day life and for those unfortunate people who become hostages, it is good for them to know that there are professionals whose job it is to get them safely released. I asked Suzanne to give me a bit of background. "I would have to go back to my days in the police…I was a police officer for 32 years and during my time in charge of the Hostage Crisis Team at Scotland Yard we brought back literally hundreds of people…but the two that we didn’t bring back…both who were kidnapped…are the ones that you never forget. It was during one of these cases that I got an insight into NGO (Non-Governmental Organisation) work where I identified that the NGOs didn’t have all the preparation in place that larger blue chip or global organisations did as part of their crisis management and business continuity planning and procedures. So one of the strands that I have focused on is helping NGOs who respond to danger hot-spots around the world…because they are the people in danger of being kidnapped. I have to say that many of the people involved in the process may appear blithe about the subject, well I guess you would have to be and of course people respond to danger in many different ways. I have even heard kidnapping being referred t as ‘enforced hospitality’. Of course it is a serious matter and it is treated as such but it is part and parcel of the risk associated with that kind of business and the people who put themselves in danger to help others are truly amazing.”<br><br>Suzanne said that she loves working for NGOs which sometimes include the most outspoken advocates of human rights, the environment, social programmes, women’s rights and more. As we continued to talk about the type of clients I went on to ask: exactly what does a hostage negotiator do? Before Suzanne explained further she made it quite clear that there may not be that much material that I could actually write about due to the sensitivity of her work and client confidentiality. So we spoke generally for ages and I learned that one of the first jobs of the hostage negotiator is to create safety. Suzanne painted a picture saying that when they arrive on the scene, there are many scenarios, there may be armed police, high emotion and general confusion in which hostages may get hurt. Suzanne was very animated as she took me through the process from the briefing (from the officer in charge) to ensuring that any actions by the police (or anyone else) did not lead to hostages being harmed. The police (or whatever authority is in charge) will have a high interest in capturing the hostage-taker, whilst the negotiator is only interested in the safety of the hostages. Suzanne spoke about the strategy and planning stage and the importance of organising communications with the hostage-takers. This is where my TV expertise came to the fore as I audaciously engaged in a two- way conversation as if I knew what I was talking about! However, like everything in life…it is never quite that simple and whilst Suzanne could discuss certain issues from a security perspective…there were areas that could not be repeated. It was after the reality check of some very harrowing stories and the real suffering during some of these kidnap situations that you realise that the media whilst conveying an outline can never replicate the emotion and physical deprivation that some of the hostages have to go through. I asked Suzanne how she managed to communicate with kidnappers. She replied: "A critical process used in many hostage negotiations is to get close to the kidnapper, to gain their trust. Whilst there may be sometimes chaos and panic, the negotiator seeks to create calm. It is important to talk in a calm voice and do a great deal of listening. In particular, it is important to establish a sense of normality amongst the emotion, a space in which the hostage-takers can talk with the negotiator as reasonable people, much as you would talk with any normal person on the phone. You have to be on hand at all times and ready to talk. As I mentioned the most important tools are these,” Suzanne patted her ears. She went on: "A negotiator must be a good listener. It is important to listen to everything in order to create reasonable negotiation." Suzanne explained in further detail how important it is to listen uncritically to the hostage-taker, accepting them as they are and creating a sense of humanity. From that humanity, they can extend to discussing the hostages, how they are bearing up and whether they are unwell and in general get a feel for their welfare. We discussed other platforms of communication and it was fascinating. I asked Suzanne how long she had been a hostage negotiator. "Since 1991 and it has become a huge part of my life. It is one of the most rewarding occupations ever…if you can imagine when you are a murder detective the most you can hope for is to bring someone to justice – you look in the eyes of family and loved ones and what can you do? You get someone to court and in front of a jury. However, when you are a hostage negotiator you can be of immediate help to the family and actually bring their loved one back alive. I have been involved in all sorts of hostage negotiations. Piracy is a hot topic at the moment and I have been involved with this area since 1996, when I was part of negotiations on the high seas. Since I left the police and started my new career I am retained by the International Maritime Bureau and offer advice as a crisis advisor because of the kidnappings that have taken place and ship-jacking that has spiked over the last few years." I asked what is her client base. "My company is called Suzanne Williams International…I was advised to trade off my good name, so although it may not appear too imaginative it was good advice and I am now in a position that I can be discerning about the clients I work with. I have a good client spread which includes the insurance world, Government deployments, NATO and various training establishments along with NGOs. I am also a trustee for Hostage UK a charity set up by Terry Waite aimed at helping hostage families. However, I mostly work within the international corporate business world and have established retainers with companies but what I love most about my job is that it is always different. One minute I can be working with individuals or NGOs, the next with the Maritime Bureau or corporate world.” I returned to the subject of my TV knowledge and I asked Suzanne if she was ever contacted by people who were instructed not to call the police by the kidnappers. "Oh yes…but not in this country, only when I have worked overseas where perhaps law enforcement isn’t as professional as here.” We went on to talk for ages and now if anyone asks I know quite a lot about hostage negotiation – not from the TV but from an expert.<br><br>(You can email Suzanne Williams at – [email protected])
