DELAWARE STATE POLICE CONFLICT MANAGEMENT TEAM

Sergeant Bernard Miller

The Conflict Management Team consists of troopers who have been specially trained in hostage negotiation, kidnap mediation and suicide prevention. Several of the team members have also received training in the area of critical stress management and are members of the DSP C.I.S.M. team. Monthly trainings center around the communications skills needed to resolve crisis situations without violence. This training is vital to keeping team members proficient in the use of (A.L.S.) Active Listening Skills which is the cornerstone of negotiating. A.L.S. combined with loose psychological principals and accepted police practices are used to safeguard the lives of all involved in a critical incident.

The D.S.P. Conflict Management Team consists of 15 Troopers under the direction of Sergeant Bernard Miller who is the
acting Unit Commander. Master Corporal Kelly Wells is the Assistant Unit Commander and directly responsible for overseeing negotiations. The remainder of team members are trained perform various duties as needed during a critical incident. The team members are located throughout the state and assigned to special units as well as patrol. These team members are responsible for responding to hostage, barricaded, suicidal, and kidnapping incidents throughout the state.

The team has developed proficiencies through operational experiences, monthly training, and serving as instructors to provide training to others. This training includes an annual FBI/Baltimore County PD Hostage Negotiations Seminar, role-play scenarios with other negotiation teams, semi-annual joint training with the Special Operations Response Team (SORT) and the H.Q. Command Post. The Conflict Management Team continues to instruct a 40-hour Basic Crisis Intervention and Hostage Negotiations Course. This course is open to all divisional Troopers as well as officers from municipal departments looking to become trained negotiators. The team also continues to provide a 16-hour course of instruction to 911 center specialist in the area of crisis intervention. Team members have trained with negotiators from various agencies during year which included the New Castle County Police, Wilmington Police, Department of Corrections and the Baltimore County Police Department.

The DSP Conflict Management Team experienced a reduced number of call-outs during 2009. The breakdown of the activations by county is as follows: New Castle - 1, Kent - 0, Sussex - 2. Each incident involved a suicidal subject who had barricaded himself with a weapon. A full team response which includes CMT, S.O.R.T and the Command Post was needed at each of these call-outs.

In 2009, CMT and its members will continue in a positive direction by continuing with their progressive initiatives, which include:

• Continued enhanced training with the Special Operations Response Team (SORT),
• Continued up-to-date and relevant training for team members,
• Closer collaboration with mental health professionals,
• Testing, upgrading and adding new equipment,
• Continued crisis intervention training for patrol and administrative personnel, and training classes and presentation to police agencies in the state and region.

- Information obtained from 2009 DSP Annual Report -