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Pittsburgh police to receive training in social media for hostage situations, other crimes
PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh police plan to train their officers to be fluent in
social media, joining other departments nationwide, days after a man armed with
a hammer and kitchen knife used a hostage’s computer to post Facebook messages
lamenting his troubles.
The case of Klein Michael Thaxton, who is accused of picking a hostage at random
in a downtown office tower and then kept authorities at bay for hours before
surrendering and releasing the hostage, was a first for the Pittsburgh
department.
There is some reflection about whether officials did the right thing by not
immediately shutting down the suspect’s Facebook page. Police say they want to
make sure officers are prepared for such judgment calls down the road.
“I think it’s something we will train for in the future,” said Lt. Jason Lando,
who acted as a coach to the primary negotiator, Officer Matt Lackner.
Members of law enforcement are finding variations of the Pittsburgh situation
nationwide. The International Association of Chiefs of Police now has a Center
for Social Media to help officers prevent and solve crimes using social media.
The center’s website contains training tools for law enforcement, and a list of
crimes where social media played a role. Special software applications are even
being created to help monitor and solve crimes.
Gary Noesner, a former chief of the FBI’s Crisis Negotiation Unit, said his
instinct would have been to shut the Facebook page down immediately, though he
agreed it might also have provided some useful information to law enforcement.
“The whole social media situation is really fascinating, the impact it is having
on operations,” Noesner added.
Pittsburgh police wouldn’t detail their specific conversations with Thaxton, 22,
whose defense attorney didn’t return calls for comment.
But, in general, Lackner said negotiating with a hostage taker is like “riding a
seesaw,” as authorities try to “reduce the emotionality and raise the
rationality” of their subject.
“When one goes down, the other goes up,” Lackner said.
But until police got federal authorities to intervene and shut down Thaxton’s
Facebook page about four hours into the ordeal, the negotiators couldn’t control
how many other people might be riding that see-saw. Thaxton’s posts drew about
700 responses, most from family members and friends expressing concern and the
hope that he’d do the right thing. But other messages were “ridiculous,” Lando
said, and had the potential to incite Thaxton.
Lackner said that even seemingly positive messages could have posed a problem
because police were primarily concerned with establishing a one-to-one rapport
and building trust with Thaxton.
“Any outside influence is distracting and, generally speaking, does not help our
cause,” Cmdr. Scott Schubert said. “We want our subject speaking to us.”
Last year, a Utah man posted updates on his Facebook page during a 16-hour
standoff with police. According to reports at the time, some of his friends and
relatives urged him to “be careful” while at least one tipped him off to the
location of a SWAT officer.
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