Hostage Situation And Its Resolution In Ethiopia

Purpose of the study: One of the modus operandi of criminals such as terrorist, emotional, mentally ill person to achieve their need is held person hostage, especially government officials, investors, and tourists. The police also used to force to secure peace and security, but now the police use the hostage negotiation team to save the life of hostage-taker and hostage. These hostage-takers take innocent hostage persons as means of negotiation, which may terrorize everybody, such as an investor, tourist, and vulnerable group, which have a negative impact on the development and peace of the country. Additionally, the right to life is the mother of other human rights. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the practice of hostage situation and its resolution Methodology: Data were collected through document review and interviews of police and victim, who were selected purposively since they have direct relation. This is desktop research and descriptive design. The data were collected through document review and media review. The collected data were analyzed thematically. Finding: The result of the analysis data shows that there is a hostage situation in Ethiopia, and the response of the police is the use of force than the negotiation team. Application: The police should establish a hostage negotiation department with professional negotiators. The governments also should enact negotiation policy and strategy in Ethiopia. Novelty/Originality: There is a hostage situation, and its resolution lacks clear guidelines in Ethiopia, and nobody studied it. Therefore, this study may use as reference material for students'; the government may use it as input for policy and lawmakers.

Why Do Hostages Die?

Every hostage negotiation has the potential to end badly—yet almost all insured criminal kidnaps end with a safe hostage release. This chapter analyses under what circumstances abusing or killing hostages is a rational choice. It shows how private sector negotiators shape kidnappers’ pay-offs to encourage cooperative behaviour. When a kidnapping gang is reclassified as terrorist, the parameters of bargaining change substantially. Putting well-resourced but nervous and inexperienced civil servants in charge of negotiations results in the escalation of ransoms. Murder and torture for reputation drives up the prices for hostages from nations whose governments are willing to engage with terrorists. The UN ban on ransom payment therefore has unintended and counterproductive consequences.

The Price of a Life

Ransom discipline is paramount for kidnap insurance and provides wider social benefits. Outsize ransoms can trigger a vicious cycle of kidnappings, hostage abuse, and ransom inflation. Crisis responders have developed a robust bargaining protocol to stabilize ransoms and incentivize cooperative behaviour by kidnappers. Kidnappers only release hostages when they think they have extracted the maximum available ransom. This requires that hostage stakeholders send psychologically costly signals to convince kidnappers that their funds are exhausted. However, if hostage stakeholders believe that there is a trade-off between time and money in a hostage negotiation, the bargaining protocol creates the (false) impression of a principal–agent problem between professional negotiators and stakeholders. Managing the resulting suspicion and distrust is as important as shaping the negotiation with the kidnappers.

Social psychological dynamics of hostage negotiation: forensic psychology, suicide intervention, police intelligence/counterintelligence, and tactical entry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to review several major components of hostage negotiation including: the different types of hostage situations; the prediction of the behavioral patterns of the hostage taker; the collection and the use of police intelligence in hostage incidents; and the application of forensic psychology during the hostage negotiations process. Design/methodology/approach – Emphasis on the social psychological aspects of creating attitude change and gaining compliance with the hostage taker are introduced to assist in developing an effective crisis communication approach during the hostage negotiations process. Findings – The paper also discusses trends in hostage negotiation strategies within incidents of domestic violence, suicide by cop, school shootings, and suicide/homicide bombings. Practical implications – Limitations and advancements in the field of hostage negotiations are also discussed as well as suggestions for the use of tactical entry to resolve unsuccessful hostage negotiations. Social implications – Explores the current trend of “suicide by cop,” but also introduces the concept of homicide by cop in relation to police shootings. Originality/value – The use of criminal psychology in developing hostage negotiation strategies to engage hostage takers with personality disorders, PTSD, paranoid schizophrenia, and suicidal depression is also discussed.