Communication in hostage negotiation

Research Institution / Organisation

Loughborough University

In Collaboration With

Metropolitan Police

Principal Researcher

Professor Elizabeth Stokoe

Level of Research

Professional / Work-based

Project Start Date

May 2015

Research Context

​The research involves the study of recordings made in the field by officers in hostage negotiation situations, mostly focused on suicidal persons. The aim is to optimise communication training by identifying what works, and what is less effective in these interactions. Conversation analysis will be employed to analyse the data, and the Conversation Analytic Role-play Method (CARM) to deliver training on the national programme in April 2016.

Research Methodology

​The Metropolitan Police are providing recordings of encounters which are being transcribed and will be analysed using conversation analysis.

Interim reports and publications

Rein Ove Sikveland, Heidi Kevoe-Feldman, Elizabeth Stokoe; Overcoming Suicidal Persons' Resistance Using Productive Communicative Challenges during Police Crisis Negotiations, Applied Linguistics

Stokoe, E. (2018). Talk: The Science of Conversation. London: Little, Brown.

Date due for completion

February 2020
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