Terrorism, especially for residents of megalopolises, has become, if not a threat number 1, then firmly entered the list of the main phobias. You cannot insure yourself against explosions, but sometimes terrorist acts are accompanied by the taking of hostages. Detaining criminals is the concern of law enforcement agencies, but a lot also depends on your behavior.
If you ask the search engines "How to behave with terrorists?", Then you will hardly be able to find advice like "Try to take possession of their weapons and shoot everyone before the arrival of the special services." Basically, they recommend keeping calm and fulfilling all the requirements of the invaders. The rule is not in a figurative sense written in blood, and it would be possible to stop at it, if it were not for the more frequent cases of entering into dialogue with hostages … of the terrorists themselves.
Intimate talk
Stockholm Syndrome (victim sympathy for terrorists) is a two-way phenomenon. Despite the fact that hostages are just a tool for obtaining some kind of benefits, human ties are established during a long joint stay. People withdraw and sluggishly respond to orders (and it often makes no sense to kill passive hostages that do not offer resistance), ask to go to the toilet, children and pregnant women press on pity, men try to understand each other, imbued with stressful, but still empathy. Sometimes religious fanatics take advantage of the moment to convert those captured to their faith. The general tension forces you to get closer, short dialogues are struck.
Remember the main thing
Terrorists also value life. Not yours, your own. There are, of course, rabid thugs, but, fortunately, they are rare and they prefer explosions in public places to hostage-taking. Your life is dear to you and the special forces, which means that the human and moral superiority is still on your side. Remember this and, without ceasing to express your readiness to obey, talk to the terrorists calmly. Do not try to bargain or promise something profitable, because you do not thoroughly know the motives of the criminals, you have no experience of communicating with them. Any negotiations with the aim of saving the lives of all the hostages are the prerogative of professionals, military psychologists, who have been studying for tens (!) Years. All that you can do personally is to prove to the invaders by your behavior that you will not take any decisive and rash actions.
Contacts of the third kind
Watch the terrorists' behavior closely. Memorize their conversations and movements. If one of them speaks to you, answer briefly and to the point. Do not be heroic, but do not despair either. Try to avoid direct eye contact with terrorists. It is better to look at a conversation with a terrorist from the bottom up. Restrain gesticulation, but keep your hands in sight. Avoid any sudden movement, especially if the criminals are pointing guns at you. If you need to use the toilet or ask for water - ask carefully, quietly, from the terrorist who is closest to you. Do not forget: the first thing that all terrorists do in the event of a hostage-taking is to notify the special services in order to put forward their demands. The first thing that the secret services do after that is think about how to save your life. Help them help you.
