Police inspectors JOHN SPITERI and KURT ZAHRA are two of only four crisis negotiators in Malta. They speak to Mark Laurence Zammit about how they use their skills to deal with suicidal people, bank robbers and hijackers.
For the last five years, police inspectors John Spiteri and Kurt Zahra have been coaxing people out of danger, either to themselves or to others.
Earlier this month, they were called to Valletta, where a man stood on the edge off a bastion, amid the taunts of onlookers.
The behaviour of the group of people, who laughed at the distressed man, filmed him on their phones, and even encouraged him to jump, shocked the country.
This happened as Spiteri and Zahra spent more than two hours gently persuading him to move to safety, before he was taken to hospital.
“In situations like these, we continuously think about all that could go wrong,” Spiteri said, describing the moment he got the call to go to Valletta, but declining to go into specific details.
“The pressure mounts when we arrive on scene. When we arrive, we tend to find passers-by who had stopped and tried to help but didn’t know how to do it. They are waiting for us to solve the crisis. That’s when I really feel all the responsibility fall on my shoulders.”
The inspectors say there is no hard and fast rule to speak to someone in such severe distress, but they generally try to calm the person down and reinstil hope in them.
“When they are on the edge, most people are almost completely irrational, so we listen to them, trying to understand what got them to this point,” Spiteri explained.
“Our aim is to buy time. The longer we converse, the better the chance of saving the person.
“A person in crisis is usually imbued with extreme emotions and we must decrease those emotions. To do that, we must listen intently to every word they say and make meaningful conversation. And that takes time.”
All four of Malta’s crisis negotiators have undergone specialised training to help them save lives. One tactic they use is to avoid discussing whatever situation has generated the person’s distress.
Spiteri explained: “Let’s say, for example, you’re on the edge and you tell us that you want to end your life because your wife left you and your children don’t want anything to do with you.
“We will never bring up your wife and children in the conversation, because we know they will trigger you into the thought of ending your life.
“But if, along the way, you mention that you love your mother, we know that your mother gives you hope. So we speak about your mother, because she is one of the reasons why it’s worth living.”
Negotiating is not a one-man job. At least two are deployed in every crisis, and in more severe scenarios, all four of them.
One assumes the role of primary negotiator while the other stands as a coach. The primary negotiator makes conversation with the person in crisis while the coach stands behind him, observing everything that is happening and prompting his colleague with ideas.
The longer we converse, the better the chances
Sometimes, the person in distress will warn the negotiators to stay away, saying ‘don’t you dare take another step’,” Zahra said.
“Sometimes, keeping distance is beneficial. It shows the person that we respect their space but we are still willing to listen,” continued Spiteri.
“Then, if the conversation becomes difficult to follow, we might ask the person to come closer, so we can understand them better. That shows them that we care about their problems while at the same time moving them away from the edge.”
Both men find their roles particularly challenging when they have to deal with very young people.
“I was called to a house where there was a young man, 15 or 16 years old, who was locked in his room with a knife in his hand and refusing to allow anyone in,” Zahra said. “Eventually, he opened the door and we had a long conversation which I will remember for the rest of my life. It impacted me greatly.”
Spiteri recalls an incident when a boy had taken his father’s partner hostage in a house, threatening to hurt her because the father was refusing to give the boy something he wanted.
“I was so shocked. I had never thought that someone so young could come to this. It’s a scary situation, knowing that the slightest mistake could lead to very adverse consequences.”
In both incidents, the danger was averted and the inspectors say every successful negotiation is a huge relief.
During this time of year, the pair notice an increase in calls to help as the weather gets colder and Christmas approaches. “It’s somewhat seasonal. Summer is quiet,” Spiteri said.
The team are also trained to tackle other crisis negotiations. On December 23, 2016, an Afriqiyah Airlines Libyan plane was hijacked in an internal flight and forced to land in Malta. Hijackers on board the plane took the passengers hostage and claimed they had a hand grenade.
That day, all four of Malta’s crisis negotiators were called in and Zahra was the primary negotiator tasked with speaking to the hijackers.
“I remember I received a call in which I was told a hijacked plane sat on Malta’s runway, I was briefed with intelligence and I was asked to head straight to a particular location from which I started to communicate with the hijackers,” he said.
While he would not divulge the information, he said the process was “quite similar to what we usually do in cases of suicide”.
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