The Flagler County Sheriff's Office Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) consists of eight dedicated members of the Agency whose regular duty assignments are in the Patrol, Investigations and Corrections Divisions.  All members of the team are available on-call should the need for their services arise.  Each CNT member has a minimum of five years of law enforcement experience and is selected based upon their demeanor, communication skills and ability to remain calm in stressful situations.   

All CNT members attend a forty hour negotiation class and upon successful completion receive an additional forty hours of Crisis Intervention Training sponsored by the Act Corporation.  Much of the training that members receive involves instruction in problem-resolution and psychological tactics that negotiators can use to convince the person in crisis to cooperate with authorities.  

Two of the CNT members have received recognition from the Public Agency Training Council as “Certified Negotiators” after completing training from the International Association of Hostage Negotiators. 

The CNT is activated for a variety of situations including barricaded, suicidal and emotionally disturbed persons, as well as hostage situations.  These types of calls often require a unified response with members of SWAT. 

Should one of the above types of situations occur, CNT and SWAT team members will respond to the scene along with the agencies Mobile Command vehicle.  Once on scene, the CNT and SWAT Commanders assess the situation and develop a plan-of-action focusing on one goal—a peaceful resolution to the incident without the use of force or loss of life if at all possible.

CNT members will often utilize a variety of state-of-the-art electronic equipment found in the Mobile Command vehicle that is designed to aid them in establishing contact with a subject and begin the negotiation process.