News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Upper Cumberland has seen several stand off situations in recent days, all have ended peacefully.
Defusing a crisis situation in real time has many moving parts.
Putnam County Sheriff Eddie Farris said Law enforcement looks at who the person is, where the crisis is and how much time they have to negotiate. Farris said building rapport and reaching out can change the situation.
“A lot of times they feel like they’ve come to a place that’s hopeless that they can’t win, that things can’t get worse, and so we try to explain to them that this is how that can work and it’s not near are bad as it seems and explain to them that there are options,” Farris said.
Farris said navigating these scenarios is a combination of training, mixed with life and law experience. As well, as finding someone who might have experience dealing with the specific individual in crisis.
“Sometimes one person can talk to that person and it doesn’t work very well but another person may work very well, and the first person has done nothing wrong or said nothing wrong,” Farris said.
One of the first things in a crisis situation that has to be handled is knowing the area and whether schools or businesses need to be evacuated, Farris said. Once the situation is assessed and there is not a hostage. Sheriff Farris said, time is on his department’s side and they know not to rush things.
Once a dialogue is established, Farris said figuring out if the person handles police or sheriff interactions better, can help a crisis.
