Pre- and Post-Conference Courses

Crisis Negotiations for Telecommunicators, 2nd Ed.

August 1, 2026
8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Grand Hyatt San Antonio River Walk
600 E Market St, San Antonio, TX 78205

The telecommunicator is the first voice in any crisis, the first point of contact the caller has with public safety, and sometimes the first contact a person in crisis has had with anybody in a long time. Crisis negotiation calls are truly life or death incidents for the caller and, perhaps, for others involved in the incident. These calls are unlike emergencies that telecommunicators handle every day. A crisis does not have a clearcut response plan, its nature and outcome are hard to discern. There is no way to know how long it will take to resolve or by what means. Outcomes depend on the way responders interact with the person on the other end of the phone. Clearly not an on-the-job training situation, the best preparation for telecommunicators is training as much as possible before they have to handle a crisis call.

This course builds on all the skills of basic telecommunicator training but has the specific goal of diving deeper into the nature of crises, their progression, and the most effective way to receive and process calls. Within its scope, the course provides an overview of crisis negotiations looking at the special concerns related to hostage situations, barricaded subjects, and persons with suicidal intent. By the end of the course, the student will have both conceptual tools to help understand crisis situations, they will also have tools to use when working to resolve these incidents.

Topics include:

• The reasons a person may experience a crisis
• The stages and timeframes of the crisis state
• Verbal communication and interrogation techniques used during crisis negotiations
• Dealing with demands
• Handling negotiations
• Hostage and suicidal subject situations

CDEs Earned: 8
Cost: Non-member $280 | Member $230