A Study on the Development of Military Police's Counter-Terrorism Crisis Negotiations

Negotiations by police agencies are activities to resolve situations through dialogue and compromise rather than physical forces such as forced suppression in various crisis situations. Police negotiations have been developed in the United States since the 1970s as the need for measures to minimize sacrifices in crisis situations was raised after unsuccessful outcomes following suppression-centered operations in the process of resolving terrorism and various hostage situations. The Republic of Korea operated a negotiation team as one of the dedicated organizations for responding to the 1988 Seoul Olympics terrorist threats, and the negotiation team was cultivated in the National Police Agency. The Korean police negotiation team has been expanded and evolved from anti-terrorism negotiations to crisis negotiations in response to changing domestic security environment and is actively operating in crisis situations such as various crimes and suicide. Negotiations by the military police has been mainly focused on countering terrorism and their approaches and tactics in various military crisis situations have not been discussed so far. This study was conducted for the purpose of diagnosing problems of the military police negotiation team by analyzing its operation status and deriving a development plan. In particular, by clarifying the types of military police negotiations, it was intended to establish a foundation for differentiating negotiation techniques that are applicable not only in response to terrorism but also in various military-related crisis situations.