Speaking up

Editorial: Roslyn Jaguar

Photography: John Pallot

People from all walks of life have bad days. It's a simplistic statement, but it's one that explains Victoria Police's focus on ensuring its membership reflect the community it serves.

For police negotiators, the ability to connect with a person in crisis can often be the key to a peaceful resolution.

But as Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT) Sergeant John Harley explains, that can sometimes prove tricky for Victoria Police’s 40 negotiators.

“If the people we are negotiating with can identify in some way with our officers, there will be better outcomes,” Sgt Harley said.

“But we don’t currently have any female negotiators at Victoria Police and very few of the men in our unit come from a culturally-diverse background.

“The truth is that it can be difficult to have credibility and build rapport with someone who has a very different background and story to you.

“We’ve been to jobs where the person we’re trying to negotiate with is a woman, and they simply don’t want to engage with us as men.”

“We always work to find a way around that issue – our negotiators are very skilled - but it does make things more difficult.”

Sgt Harley manages the CIRT Negotiator Unit, which houses Victoria Police’s entire negotiation capability.

Currently, police must first join CIRT as a tactical operator before they can apply to undertake the training required to become a qualified negotiator.

But Sgt Harley said the organisation was in the process of casting a critical eye over this recruitment model.

As a first step towards a future that may see negotiators recruited from other parts of Victoria Police, CIRT recently held a trial to change the way negotiators were deployed to incidents.

Senior constables Julian Mancini, Bianca Woods and Matilda Gledhill were all involved in the new-look negotiator training program.

The trial established a 15-man standalone negotiator unit, with members able to attend incidents involving mental health concerns without the requirement for a full CIRT tactical team.

Sgt Harley said with mental health-related incidents making up “the vast majority” of negotiator call-outs, the six-month trial had delivered many benefits.

Before the trial, negotiators were sent to every incident that met the criteria for a CIRT tactical deployment, even if the negotiator capability wasn’t required.

“Instead, during the trial, members in the negotiator unit were able to attend certain incidents alongside frontline general duties police, to help them build their capabilities and become better communicators,” Sgt Harley said.

“Basically, we would let the frontline officers do the talking, giving them coaching and advice in a live operational setting, with CIRT negotiators only taking over as a last resort.”

Along with upskilling frontline police, the trial also meant negotiators were able to provide support for more incidents as they were not tied to CIRT tactical deployments.

And the ability for negotiators to attend without a CIRT tactical team created a more intimate setting for often delicate conversations with people in crisis.

“When we’re going out to jobs with a smaller crew, without the guys in full tactical gear, it’s less overwhelming for the people we’re negotiating with,” Sgt Harley said.

“Deployments with CIRT and the Special Operations Group (SOG) will always remain the priority for negotiators, but changing the operating model allows us to provide support for other incidents as well.”

The trial, which focused on incidents within a 15km radius of the Melbourne CBD, is currently in the review and evaluation phase.

But one thing is clear – there is strong interest from officers across Victoria Police in joining a standalone negotiator unit, with Sgt Harley receiving enquiries “on a daily basis”.

“There are plenty of police who would make great negotiators, but what’s stopping them is that they have to become a CIRT tactical operator first,” Sgt Harley said.

“There’s a whole set of physical requirements that go along with that tactical role, and that doesn’t interest everyone.”

CIRT Senior Sergeant Darren McQueen, who developed the concept for the trial, said Victoria Police was unique in the way it recruited negotiators.

Sen Const Mancini is part of the team that has been training new negotiator recruits like Sen Const Woods.

“All other Australian police jurisdictions recruit from across their organisation, rather than from one specific unit,” Sen Sgt McQueen said.

“Generally speaking, this makes it easier to recruit people with different skill sets and from different backgrounds, which enhances the diversity of knowledge negotiators bring to an incident.”

While important evaluations of the trial take place, CIRT has already made moves to diversify its negotiator unit.

Two female CIRT tactical operators, senior constables Matilda Gledhill and Bianca Woods, have recently undertaken a four-week ridealong program with qualified negotiators, which exposed them to real-time critical incident negotiations.

The pair will soon take part in further training before being assessed for their suitability to become qualified negotiators.

Sen Const Gledhill said her interest in becoming a negotiator was sparked when she realised, at the beginning of her policing career, that communicating with people came naturally to her.

“But I wanted to find a role where I was able to do it in crisis moments,” she said.

“To be able to use language and communication, and really harness that to build a rapport with someone and hopefully help them out of a crisis situation, that really appeals to me.”

Sen Const Woods said training alongside the negotiators had made her a better listener.

“When we’re negotiating with someone, a lot of times they’re able to actually solve their own problem because we give them the space to get it off their chest without someone butting in, without someone telling them ‘well, why don’t you just do this?’.

“It’s all about providing that calming, empathetic voice and helping them to get to the point where they come to their own realisation about what they need to do.”

Sgt Harley said there was “a lot of mystique” around the role of negotiators.

“It’s not a well-known capability, even within Victoria Police,” he said.

“But it’s a very privileged role – we’re at the forefront of every type of incident, it’s exciting, and we get to work alongside the SOG and CIRT.

“And it’s incredibly rewarding when we get a good result.”