Drawn from his book of the same name, Inspector Sean Pollock (Ret.) delivers a practitioner-to-practitioner examination of what makes a crisis negotiation team effective - from the first selection decision to the final debrief.

This session moves through the full operational arc of the discipline: building a team beyond the comfort zone of peer recruitment; understanding the distinct demands of suicidal, barricaded, high-risk warrant, and hostage deployments; and the often-overlooked value of cross-training with communications staff, tactical teams, and community partners. Sean works through the science of incident assessment - the 5 Ps, established subject-classification and motivational models - before turning to the Incident Command Triangle and the negotiator's responsibility to communicate assessment with the same precision as Tactical.

The session closes where the work itself does: on leadership, realistic training, the discipline of the debrief, and an honest reflection on the calls that change us - and why we answer them anyway.

Inspector Sean Pollock is a retired member of the Winnipeg Police Service, having completed 24 years of service. During the course of his career, he has worked in patrol, community support, specialized investigations, traffic, and spent time at the training division. He was promoted to Inspector in 2022 and commanded both the Operational Support Division, overseeing all special operations portfolios for the Winnipeg Police Service, as well as the Records and Reports Management Division. Inspector Pollock joined the Crisis Negotiation Unit in 2011 and was deployed to a variety of crisis incidents, including suicidal individuals, barricaded subjects, and high-risk warrants. He is a qualified Critical Incident Commander and was an adjunct faculty member with the Canadian Police College until the time of his retirement. Inspector Pollock is a member of the instructing cadre for the National Tactical Officers Association as well as a consultant for public and private organizations relative to conflict resolution and crisis communication. He was awarded the Excellence in Law Enforcement Award by the Province of Manitoba as well as the Exemplary Service Award by the Governor General of Canada. Inspector Pollock is the author of "Answering the Call - Lessons Learned as a Crisis Negotiator."