'HIGH-RISK': A Useful Tool for Improving Police Decision-Making in Hostage and Barricade Incidents.

The aim of the study is to examine several combinations of risk factors known to the police - i.e., perpetrator and situational characteristics of the incidents - leading to two possible outcomes in domestic hostage and barricade incidents (HBI): autoaggressive and heteroaggressive behaviors from the perpetrator. Using a series of conjunctive analyses on a sample of 534 hostage and barricade incidents, results show that, depending on the specific combination of factors, the likelihood of violence could very much vary, suggesting that the checklist approach is not adequate for risk assessment in hostage and barricade incidents. HIGH-RISK represents a decision support system that can be easily integrated to any crisis-intervention structure (CIS) or police unit dealing with hostage and barricade incidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]