{"id":293613,"date":"2025-10-11T03:19:34","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T03:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/293613\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T03:19:34","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T03:19:34","slug":"how-san-antonio-polices-hostage-negotiator-team-uses-words-to-resolve-tense-standoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/293613\/","title":{"rendered":"How San Antonio police\u2019s hostage negotiator team uses words to resolve tense standoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO<\/strong> \u2013 With their big trucks and long guns, SWAT teams are known for providing muscle during tense standoffs.<\/p>\n

However, often alongside SWAT are members of another team who use words over weapons to help resolve those situations.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ll see us. We\u2019re in here. SWAT\u2019s in the front,\u201d said Officer Sebastian Huerta, pointing to a large mobile command post. \u201cEvery time SWAT\u2019s getting deployed, we\u2019re getting deployed as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huerta is a two-year veteran of the San Antonio Police Department\u2019s hostage negotiator team. <\/p>\n

The negotiator team often talks with barricaded suspects and others involved in stalemates with law enforcement into surrendering. <\/p>\n

Earlier this week, the negotiator team invited KSAT to see how they train potential new members, using SeaWorld\u2019s Aquatica as the setting for scenarios based on real-life situations. <\/p>\n

In one case, trainees worked with their instructors, using the tactics they learned to try to end a mock hostage situation over the phone.<\/p>\n

The script the trainees were provided was a man who was upset about his wife\u2019s affair, and was holding his family at gunpoint.<\/p>\n

Carefully, the trainees practiced engaging him in conversation, with the primary goal of establishing a rapport. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe listen to that person. We never talk over that person. We let them express themselves,\u201d Huerta said, explaining their approach. \u201cWe call it ALS, active listening skills. That\u2019s the biggest part of negotiating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, another scenario played out high above ground level, at the top of a tower. The situation involved a distraught man threatening to jump.<\/p>\n

Each trainee, attached to an instructor by a harness system, took careful steps toward the actor playing the role of the man.<\/p>\n

Using their words, the trainees tried to convince the man to step away from the ledge.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll try to ask as many questions, as much as we can. Sometimes that person just doesn\u2019t want to talk,\u201d Huerta said. \u201cIt\u2019s not only criminals that want to do this stuff. Sometimes, it\u2019s normal people and they\u2019re just going through a really bad day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Huerta also said someone threatening to jump from a tall height could easily happen on one of the many highway bridges or on top of a parking garage. <\/p>\n

If all goes as in the training, though, the team\u2019s talking leads to everyone walking away safely. <\/p>\n

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