Assessing the School of the Nations crisis

Feb 02, 2019 Letters

DEAR EDITOR,

A few days ago, I was contacted by a colleague and board member of the security industry trade association (GAPSO) Guyana Association for Private Security Organisations, who sought my intervention into the School of the Nations crisis. He sent me a short script, which was allegedly posted on the internet; and which purportedly represents the espoused values, position and ethos of some disaffected person(s). I have since read and analyzed the script sent to me, and here make the following comments.
Owning to the sensitive nature of this case, I have decided against reproducing the entire script in the best interest of public safety and national security. This I might add is a conscious decision not to give undue prominence to the script writer, and by extension, is a crisis negotiation strategy in the greater scheme of things.
Crisis negotiation is a conservative non-violent means of mitigating a threat involving the taking of hostages, a barricaded subject, a potential suicide victim, or the threat of active violence. During such incidents, it is the goal of law enforcement to preserve life -meaning the lives of hostages, law enforcement and security personnel, and of course, even the life of the subject, who is best qualified to help shed light on the anatomy of the incident.
There are several things a negotiator can recognize early, that are helpful in anticipating and planning their intervention to minimize losses. They include recognizing the initial risk of violence, the conditions needed to make an incident negotiable, the type of incident being addressed, and the types of person or people the negotiator(s) are dealing with.
I have reviewed the context of the incident and could not find direct correlation with the shooting of the principal of the school, and some parts of the script, except the active violence carried out on the principal are separate and apart from the script writer, which could imply that we are dealing with two separate but connected incidents.
In my communication to the GAPSO representative, I stated that the narrative of the script based on my analysis, is not language used by an average student, since the language is seemingly picturesque and somewhat too involved at times. It also contains speech patterns that are characteristic and reflective of terrorist ideation.
My professional colleague agreed with my assumption that the tone and intent of the alleged script writer, did occur to him as representing more than just a past, disgruntled student with an axe to grind.
In a crisis situation the subject is striving for control they often think they are losing, or have lost. They are driven by emotion – often into a dangerous and unpredictable rage. For the police to effectively employ control methods, a person in crisis must logically appreciate the consequences of non-compliance, this becomes critical, since a person in rage is automatically in control. To this end, the police will apply the Behaviour Influence Steer-way Model (BISM) which was developed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) many years ago, in an attempt to deescalate the crises.
In the opening line, the script writer asked to be referred to as ‘Kira’ – a moniker that greatly embodies their beliefs. As of now, we do not know if this individual is male, female or transgender. However, research has shown that while Kira can be used as a Japanese name, it is not actually a Japanese word at all. The closest word is ‘KiraKira’ which means ‘shining’ or ‘glittering’ thus ‘Kira’ is just the translation of the English word ‘killer’, though not a direct translation (and technically it should end in a double A.)
The script writer continues: I want to give a message to the public and authorities – that purports a kind of universal theme or appeal – which to my mind is somewhat histrionic in nature.
I found three different positions in that little text which could be a deliberate act to confuse. I took particular note of the fact that the script writer used the word ‘negotiate’ even though no demand has been made to date, and hence anything to negotiate.
This information when forthcoming will indicate the type of demand and present a better understanding of the psychological profile of the subject.

Regards,
Clairmont Featherstone

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