From negotiating with pirates to delivering ransoms via tiny parachutes, a hostage negotiator recently revealed that his work is far different from what we see in Hollywood films. Scott Walker, who spent 16 years at Scotland Yard before becoming a ransom negotiator, compared dealing with kidnappers to “sitting on a kitchen table with your family.”
Since leaving the police force in 2015, Scott has worked on over 300 cases worldwide, from South America and West Africa to the Middle East and the Philippines. When a businessman is abducted abroad, Scott’s task is to fly to the location, communicate with the kidnappers, and work with his elite team to secure the captive’s release.
One of the biggest challenges Scott faces is convincing the hostage’s family to cooperate during the most stressful period of their lives. In one case, when tensions rose and the brother lost his temper, the kidnappers threatened to kill the hostage and cut off contact for three months.
Another time, after receiving a chilling threat from gangsters, Scott’s team had to escalate security measures and deploy heavily armed officers. Negotiating with criminal gangs requires building trust, a dangerous aspect of the operation. The ransom money is often delivered in unorthodox ways, such as leaving it by the roadside, dropping it in the jungle, or transporting it by sea.
Contrary to movies, hostage handovers rarely occur simultaneously. During the era of Somali piracy, Scott’s colleagues devised a unique method of delivering the money: dropping waterproof bags attached to small parachutes from a plane into the Indian Ocean.
Scott reminds us that hostage negotiation is not so different from any other interaction—it’s all about cooperation and collaboration. Emotional self-regulation is a crucial skill, focused on long-term relationships rather than manipulation. Negotiating with criminals is, in many ways, akin to conducting successful business transactions.
Scott’s book, Order Out of Chaos: How to become a World-Class Communicator and Win Every Negotiation, delves deeper into his expertise. He also had the honor of speaking at CrimeCon, a prestigious event in London, on September 21 and 22.
Hostage negotiation may be an intense undertaking, but Scott emphasizes the importance of maintaining control over one’s emotions. Like sitting around a kitchen table with family, it’s about understanding the situation and striving to achieve positive outcomes.
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