Some realities during the kidnapping of minors – A participative discussion by Colonel Ernst Strydom: Head-Hostage Negotiations SAPS

Ernst H Strydom was born in Zeerust in Western Transvaal, South Africa. He matriculated in Polokwane at the Pietersburg High School in 1980 and continued with his studies at the University of Pretoria. He obtained the degrees BA(Ed) and BEd (Psychology) after which he has been employed by the South African Police since 1 January 1987. On completion of his basic training he served at station level and at the Library, Head Office. He has been employed at the Institute for Behavioural Sciences, Head Office, from November 1988 until September 1995. At the Institute he was involved in the establishment of the Hostage Negotiation Team, the psychological selection of members for the hostage release team (Special Task Force), managing a telephonic hotline for members of the police, and also the establishment of a post traumatic stress debriefing programme. Ernst obtained a MEd (Psychology) and is registered as an educational psychologist with the South African Health Professions Council. He completed a PhD (Psychology) with research on children as hostages, and the training of hostage negotiators, especially when dealing with children in a hostage situation. He completed his Masters in Business Administration in 2005 and his dissertation focussed on the management of Police Divers in the South African Police Service. He is registered as a doctoral student in criminology, researching the “Development and Evaluation of the Effectiveness of an Assessment Protocol for Hostage Negotiation”, but did not complete the research due to personal and work-related responsibilities. In 1990, Ernst Strydom was a founder member (instructor) of the Hostage Negotiation Team. He has, since then, been involved in the training of more than seventy groups of hostage negotiators who render service throughout the country. He was also instrumental in the development and presentation of the SARPCCO Generic Hostage Negotiation Training programme and participation in the development and presentation of an SARPCCO Counter Terrorism Course. He facilitated the development of a Crowd Conflict Management programme, aimed at equipping police members with skills to deal with groups of public protesters and other dissident groups. He is currently instrumental in the revision of the Hostage Negotiation Learning Programme. Since 1992 he fulfils the function of National Coordinator of the South African Police Service's Hostage Negotiation Team. (Hostage negotiation is a secondary task in the South African Police Service.) He attended a Specialist Course in Hostage Negotiation at the London Metropolitan Police during March 1995. During 1996 attended a Crisis Negotiations course at the FBI Academy in Quantico. He represented the South African Police Service as a founder member of the International Negotiators Working Group in 2000, which focus issues related to police negotiators world-wide. He dealt with a variety of hostage incidents including the Royal Swazi Air Hijacking, the Modder B Prison siege and the kidnapping of South African citizens in the Philippines, Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and Mali. He also dealt with various suicide incidents. Colonel Ernst Strydom is currently the Section Commander: Specialised Uniform Support, including Disaster Management, Hostage Negotiations and also, Water Policing and Diving Services, stationed at the Division: Visible Policing and Operations His extramural activities include being available as external examiner for post-graduate students, participation in coral signing and member of the Art Society. Colonel Ernst Strydom will end his career in the South African Police Service at the end of November 2022.