October 2022
For the first time in Italy, the CEPOL Course “Crisis Hostage Negotiation and Crisis Communication” was organised and run for the training of the negotiators of the Police Forces and of the Intelligence services.
The international training activity was run by École Universitaire Internationale as an academic and training partner of the European Agency for the training of police forces and law enforcement authorities [CEPOL – The European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Training].
École Universitaire Internationale was selected for 2022 and for 2023 as the training body that achieved the highest score at European level in the subject of Hostage Negotiation and Crisis Communication and in training at European level.
The Italian body was awarded the training of the hostage negotiators of Europe, proving to be a centre of excellence and the only one entitled, including among the national Police Forces, to be a provider of training in the field of CEPOL hostage negotiation and crisis communication.
The negotiators discussed the evolution in hostage negotiation linked to new techniques and new approaches, which are now used by the Police Forces and by Counter-terrorism units throughout the Western world.
The new negotiation method and the new techniques developed by École Universitaire Internationale were the pivot of what was new in the training; the new PENS method (Psych Evolving Negotiation Strategy) is based on a neuro-scientific approach and covers all the innovative techniques relating to the behaviour of the human being and to the modification of that behaviour, in particular in crisis and high-risk situations, and to the working of the human brain.
The training methodology ranged from the dynamics of kidnappings, to hostage-taking in the context of terrorism and to the management of high-risk situations with practical exercises, thanks to the contribution of experts from the Special Forces, to be applied in the new contexts, as well as the management of negotiation teams and units, placing a strong emphasis on cooperation between negotiators from different countries.
The negotiators were presented with the most recent scientific and empirical discoveries in the field of negotiation by speakers from various countries and professional backgrounds.
The international training activity was attended by 19 Delegations, for a total of more than 40 negotiators, senior officers and officials from the law enforcement and Intelligence services of the European Union Member States and partner States.
Moreover, in the very recent European ranking, École Universitaire Internationale was assessed among the bodies with the highest capacities as regards teaching and learning in its specific subject areas.
Read the report of the Slovenian Police on the CEPOL Course
