The hostage negotiator

Ex-policeman Lance Burdett is no stranger to high-stakes negotiations.

He served as a crisis negotiator in the New Zealand police force for 13 years and has helped resolve more than 200 stand-offs, 50 of them as the lead negotiator.

He was the chief police negotiator for the 40 hour Napier siege in 2009, ignited when Jan Molenaar shot three police constables, killing one and injuring the other two when they came to his house on a routine drugs warrant.

Burdett is the man you call when you need to negotiate the not-negotiable.

In a tense situation, always focus on the other person immediately; ask them how they’re doing, what they’re thinking about, what they want, he says.

Burdett calls it a ‘HOT’ response – honest, open and to the point.

It’s best not to waffle, and to quickly establish rapport and how you can help them, he says.

‘‘I’d always start with giving them something right out the gate.

‘‘It puts people in your back pocket, and most feel obligated to do something for you.’’

For example, Ardern or English could pick a NZ First policy and offer to back it unconditionally at the launch of negotiations.

Burnett says negotiations need to stick to facts, and emotions need to be managed on both sides, so it pays to learn how the other guy will react to certain approaches.

The politicians have an advantage there, they’ve often worked together before, but police negotiators are often meeting the other guy for the first time.

So, they put together an ‘‘emotions board’’ on the person they’re dealing with, which tracks the subjects being talked about and how they react.

‘‘When they got rarked up, we’d look at the board to see what we said to them last. That’s called the trigger.’’

Police will work to avoid trigger topics, and concentrate on what kept the other person calm and open to reason.

Burdett knows each party will have their bottom lines, but like all good negotiators they’ll have concessions ready.

The key was never to say ‘no, that’s my bottom line,’ but to give them a positive side to what they’d otherwise see negatively, he says.

‘‘Coming to the end of a hostage situation ... they’ll say ‘I want freedom, a car, a plane, a million dollars’, all that ridiculous stuff.’’

Of course, the police just can’t give a hostage-taker any of that, but don’t want to set them off.

‘‘You say what I can do for you is guarantee a safe exit, I can make sure you’re heard, get you a fair trial.

‘‘You focus on the positive and bring them back to reality.’’