Lt. Mark Lowther (ret.) is a US Marine Corps veteran who has served over 30 years in public safety. His background is varied and diverse. He has served as a SWAT hostage negotiator for a major portion of his career. His background and experience come from serving on two Metro SWAT teams. Lowther has experience on all levels of negotiations from tech to negotiation team leader. He has personally been involved in numerous threatened suicide and SWAT negotiations including barricaded gunmen and hostage incidents. He also served 10 years as a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) officer, instructor, and training coordinator. Lowther served as part of the Public Safety Law Enforcement Unit assigned to the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics. He has also served on a federal task force as a sworn Special Deputy United States Marshal. He was named by the Utah Tactical Officers Association as the 2012 Crisis Negotiator of the year. Some of his experiences in SWAT negotiations are featured in the book Crisis Cops. Lowther has spent much of his career in assignments involving crisis negotiation, suicide intervention, verbal de-escalation, peer support, autism awareness and mental illness. He has instructed law enforcement locally, nationally and internationally on those topics. He is the co-director and founder of the International Hostage Negotiations Institute. In addition to his law enforcement training, he has received specialized training in crisis counseling and Psychological First Aid. He currently volunteers working on a crisis hotline, and as a Peer Support Team member with his service dog Dexter. Although retired from full time, Lowther continues to serve part time in law enforcement and maintains Utah Peace Officer status.