Hostage situations, possible strategies

Something came up as I was reading up on that bastard who went into a colorado school and killed a 16 yr old girl as she fled (shot in the back of the head, that sucks sad ). This is just all theoretical, but do you think it might work?

1.) Stun grenade thrown into area where the crook/hostages are at. The grenade will create a loud noise and flash, which will momentarily disorient anyone who's not "protected" (i.e. they're not closing their eyes and covering their ears, which is the whole point of the grenade, you do that before they can react). This would give the cops a few moments to take down the crook.

2.) Tranquilizer dart. Would require the criminal to be in good view of a good sniper, but with a good shot it would knock out the criminal quickly (or at least I hope it's quick enough before they can do something like shoot a few hostages beforehand).

3.) Sleeping gas, or something similar. Sort of like what the Russians used in that theater hostage situation a few years ago (yes, I know, it was kind of bad because some of the hostages got really sick and/or died from it, but at the same time they did kill all the criminals too. Real easy to put a bullet into their head when they're asleep), except you don't tell them, you just do it. Might be more effective if it's a long stand-off, going into the night hours and what not (sure, they might be able to stay up for a while, but I don't think any human could stay awake and alert for much longer than that).

4.) Giving in to the hostages demands if they want a car/plane/helicopter/safe transport away. Then once they're in said vehicle, do either 2 or 3 above in the vehicle. This will probably be more probable when computer controlled cars are common, and as a bonus, if the criminal is incapacitated, the car can go directly to a prison, where the hostages can be freed, and the criminal doesn't have far to go behind bars. If they're terrorists, alternate plan (especially if they don't have any hostages with them) is to let them get away, and once they're a safe distance away, blow it up (particularly if they killed other people already).

I know some of these are really far-fetched, but realistically speaking, could that stuff work? I know it calls for some really unorthodox methods, but hey, you have to try and think like the criminals, so you can try to one-up whatever they do.

And if you have any suggestions, feel free to post them (probable ones preferably, that you could probably realistically use. Much as I'd like to send a Terminator in there, I don't think they'd work well unless they could incapacitate the crook before they could harm any of the hostages. And energy shields to detain the crooks won't be in service for the forseeable future tongue Yes, I can think of stuff that's out there too lol).

Jam it back in, in the dark.

You can't do anything except rush in with all you got when some insane guy walks into a school and starts shooting. It's completely random and takes people by surprise. We don't see this alot anymore, but if a group of terrorists take hostages and ask for demands, then officials have options. But most terrorists now strike with surprise, no demands.

1. A flashbang? This is normal in counter-terrorist tactics. And it usually works. But it doesn't always work, especially when there's more than one guy you're going against. A flashbang might even cause panic of the hostages as well as the hostage takers. Like rushing into the Beslan school, I'm sure they used flashbangs but the terrorists didn't think twice in blowing up the school.

2. More often than not, the terrorists would be behind a window. It'd be very hard to get a shot with a bullet as a good sniper, let alone a tranquillizer dart. Officials want hostages out safe, they couldn't care less about the hostage takers.

3. Sleeping gas might be a bit extreme. And you have to use the right type of gas as well as the right dosage. Too much will kill you, that's the last thing officials want. People died in the Moscow Theatre.

4. Giving in to the demands of terrorists is never a choice. After Munich, I don't think anyone would do that again.

I'd say the best way is negotiations, full analysis of the situation and taking out the hostage takers with a counter-terrorist/SWAT team.

How ya doing, buddy?

It's just the single person methods would be totally negated if there was more than one gunman/terrorist, such as the tranquilizer dart. They'd use that as an excuse to kill some hostage or up the demands.
Nerve gas would probably fall under the same category as sleeping gas.
After remembering the thing with mosquito ringtonge, perhaps some kind of noise irritant could be utilized. The only problem again being that all the hostages except deaf ones would be affected.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

If only they had someone sneak through the ventilation shafts like in The Negotiator, except this time, the marksman wouldn't miss his shot.

Ahh, but seriously though, of course those ideas could work, but the real world is unpredictable. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. SWAT officers did use explosives to distract the hostile, but he was shooting at the officers and then shot the girl and then himself. I think it pretty much comes down to how well these guys are trained. Obviously, they need more funding in training and equipment.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Gecko3

1.) Stun grenade thrown into area where the crook/hostages are at. The grenade will create a loud noise and flash, which will momentarily disorient anyone who's not "protected" (i.e. they're not closing their eyes and covering their ears, which is the whole point of the grenade, you do that before they can react). This would give the cops a few moments to take down the crook.

2.) Tranquilizer dart. Would require the criminal to be in good view of a good sniper, but with a good shot it would knock out the criminal quickly (or at least I hope it's quick enough before they can do something like shoot a few hostages beforehand).

3.) Sleeping gas, or something similar. Sort of like what the Russians used in that theater hostage situation a few years ago (yes, I know, it was kind of bad because some of the hostages got really sick and/or died from it, but at the same time they did kill all the criminals too. Real easy to put a bullet into their head when they're asleep), except you don't tell them, you just do it. Might be more effective if it's a long stand-off, going into the night hours and what not (sure, they might be able to stay up for a while, but I don't think any human could stay awake and alert for much longer than that).

4.) Giving in to the hostages demands if they want a car/plane/helicopter/safe transport away. Then once they're in said vehicle, do either 2 or 3 above in the vehicle. This will probably be more probable when computer controlled cars are common, and as a bonus, if the criminal is incapacitated, the car can go directly to a prison, where the hostages can be freed, and the criminal doesn't have far to go behind bars. If they're terrorists, alternate plan (especially if they don't have any hostages with them) is to let them get away, and once they're a safe distance away, blow it up (particularly if they killed other people already).

1. Yeah. They do that.

2. If someone is holding another person hostage with a weapon, and the officer has a clear line of sight, they're probably not going to bother with a tranq gun that may or may not work. This isn't fucking Metal Gear. You arn't going to plug him in the arm and have him pass out before he has a chance to put a bullet in the hostages head. If they can see him and shoot him with a tranq gun, they will see him and shoot him with a bullet.

3. Well, we all know how well that went for the Russian's, don't we. While using sleeping gas may knock out the terrorists (which I find amusing you want to use a tranq gun instead of killing, but have no problems shooting an unconscious man in the head rather than simply arresting him), but like you said it could just as easily kill a few hostages.

4. Let's give someone a plane or a car, let them take hostages onboard (because they will), then make them pass out, crash the veichle and kill everyone on board and quite possibly a few innocent bystanders.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Kill 'em all and let God decide!

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Shoot all the hostages -- that will confuse the criminals long enough for you to TAKE DEM OUT!

FELIPE NO