Simon Eisdorfer

In the summer of 1972 Eisdorfer, an Assistant Chief Inspector at the New York Police Dept., watched as a hostage drama unfolded on TV. It was during the Munich Summer Olympics, when 11 Israeli athletes were taken hostage and killed by terrorists. As the commanding officer of the NYPD's Special Operations division, Eisdorfer realized that such an event could happen in his city -- and he knew his department was not prepared to deal with it. He spent several months developing the operational plans for the nation's first Hostage Negotiation Team, which was deployed in 1973. Before the HNT, cops surrounding barricaded suspects would call out, "You've got 10 minutes to come out, or we're throwing in tear gas," says retired police captain Frank Bolz, who was the unit's first chief hostage negotiator. "And, unfortunately, people got killed. Cops got killed." Eisdorfer knew that he could put fresh cops on day after day and wear down the hostage takers; his emphasis was saving lives, not ending things quickly. And it worked. Police departments from all over the world studied the team, and its techniques are still used today. Eisdorfer retired in 1978, and died March 23 in New York from heart failure. He was 87. From This is True for 20 March 2005 Suggestions for further reading: High Noon by Nora Roberts Amazon Price: Customer Review: I really liked the book. I bought the book on tape and Susan Erikson does a fabulous job as the reader. I'm a huge J.D. Robb fan and this had a similar "feel" to it.   Standoff by Sandra Brown Amazon Price: Customer Review: This was more a novella than a usual Sandra Brown novel, and as such, was pretty blah. The story never fully develops beyond the actual standoff situation, and we're never given a chance to really connect with our main characters. Brown also uses a...   Breaking Point: A Novel by Suzanne Brockmann Amazon Price: Customer Review: Would definately use this seller again. The book was in pristine condition, the shipping was uber fast, the price was unbeatable. Love everything about this transaction.   The Negotiator (The O'Malley Series #1) by Dee Henderson Amazon Price: $10.07 Customer Review: Dee Henderson touches your heart with this novel kicking off the tales of the O'Malley clan. You'll find yourself laughing at moments and deep in thought at others. Henderson approaches the struggles many face when tacking a relationship with God wit...   Hostage at the Table: How Leaders Can Overcome Conflict, Influence Others, an... by George Kohlrieser Amazon Price: $20.40 Customer Review: Excerpts from Book Review originally written for Positive Psychology News Daily Written in the first person, Hostage at the Table recognizes that nobody is exempt from either the basic fight-or-flight survival instinct common to all livi...   Newsfeed display by CaRP

About the HUs About This is True Subscribe Free to This is True Your E-mail: Prev: Superdad Richard Dutrow Next: The cold-hearted Wilfred G. Bigelow Complete Name List

Copyright 1998-2010 ThisisTrue.Inc, all rights reserved. May not be copied or archived without express, prior, written permission. "This is True" is a registered trademark of ThisisTrue.Inc, Ridgway Colorado. 9181