Faculty partners with FBI on project

On the second of a three-day conference at West Virginia University, members of the FBI discussed hostage-taking at a reception Tuesday.

Approximately 25 people attended the Hostage-Takers Conference, hosted in the Erickson Alumni Center between the FBI's Behavioral Science Unit and WVU faculty.

Years of research on the part of Jeff Daniels, a rehabilitation counselor and counseling psychologist at WVU, complement FBI's focus on the dilemma.

The conference supported the recent Global Hostage-Taking Research and Analysis Project, aiming to clarify and understand motivations of hostage-takers, specifically those around the U.S. and Mexico border area of the southwest.

"Why the southwest border? Because it's one of the most violent places in the United States," said Gregory Vecchi, Unit Chief of the FBI's BSU.

If GHosT-RAP proves to be a success, Vecchi hopes to move onto other areas with hostage problems.

"We can look at international kidnappings or hostage-takings, correctional, school, workplace or parental; anytime someone is taken against their will, that's a potential sub-project for our bigger project," he said. "This is going to go on well after we're retired."

Daniels research includes: school-violence prevention and hostage-taker motivation.

"We may never be done on the southwest border as long as there is still hostage-taking," Daniels said. "As we start to learn some preventative
strategies, they're constantly changing their strategy."

The project will benefit to law enforcement working in hostage situations, according to Vecchi.

"First of all, we ask them (law enforcement) what questions do you need answered, and then we basically empirically put together a research design and then ask the offenders these questions," he said. "They answer it, and we basically use that information for the law enforcement people and that helps them do their job better."

Kirk Peterson, WVU's president of research and economic development, thinks the project will be tactful and efficient.

"When we were talking about this last summer, it occurred to me that no one has ever really studied the captive-taker, they always focus on the hostages, so this is a unique approach," he said. "Sometimes we have to reverse our thinking about how we solve problems."

The GHosT-RAP project is set to begin within the next few months. While the long term goal is to alleviate violence in the southwest, short terms goals are in place.

"During the first year, our primary goals are to make sure that we're asking the right types of questions, that the interviewers are trained well so everybody is doing the interview the same way," Peterson said. "Our short term goal is also to start analyzing data and see what we're coming up with."