Butler County Prison hosts multiple agency hostage negotiation training
Speaking over a “throw phone,” an inmate hostage taker seemed keenly aware of the negotiation tactics that Butler County corrections officer Rebecca Ritzert was using to bring the hostage situation to a peaceful conclusion in a training session Wednesday at the Butler County Prison.
About 35 corrections officers from the county prison, SCI Albion in Erie County, SCI Mercer in Mercer County and the Erie County Prison, and members of the Butler County emergency services unit took part in the morning-long hostage negotiation training designed to be stressful and challenging for the negotiators. The emergency services unit is comprised of officers from the Penn Township, Middlesex Township and Mars police departments.
In Wednesday’s contrived scenario, officers formed two negotiating teams to try to talk down two groups of hostage takers. The negotiating teams reported to one command center. Each group was located in different offices on the first floor of the prison.
One group of hostage takers was given a throw phone so they could talk to the negotiators. The device is a phone secured inside a black case capable of withstanding a throw.
“Great trick. Good try,” a hostage taker said in response to Ritzert’s attempt to quell the situation.
“We make it as stressful as possible for people in case it ever happens,” said Capt. Tyler Tracey of the Butler County Prison.
The hostage takers do their best to not give the negotiators the information they are trying to obtain, said Mike Holman, deputy warden of the Erie County Prison.
“We don’t practice best-case scenarios,” Holman said.
Beau Sneddon, Butler County prison warden, said hostage negotiation training is usually conducted twice a year and the prisons take turns as hosts, and other types of training sessions are held throughout the year.
“We train almost continually,” Sneddon said.
In Wednesday’s exercise, experienced negotiators served as the hostage takers to train those with less experience.
“They use their experience to put them in unfamiliar situations. That’s the real benefit of the training,” Sneddon said. “Overall it went well.”
