Defusing Threats of Violence [AP?]

[John Young <jya@pipeline.com>]

URL in The Economist, October 5, 1996, p. 46.

Defusing Threats of Violence

http://www.cmiatl.com/


         Crisis Management International, Inc.


CMI provides crisis management services relating to "hot"
threats of violence, workplace violence prevention, and
post-incident crisis intervention. In addition, CMI provides
threat of violence and crisis response training,
psych-claims management assistance, and SCAN analysis, which
is a deception detection technique.

CMI has handled such crises as the World Trade Center and
Oklahoma City bombings, Hurricane Andrew, L.A. and San
Francisco earthquakes, as well as multitudes of air
disasters, workplace murders, and industrial accidents,
among others.

The president of CMI, Bruce Blythe, has appeared on ABC's
20/20, CNN's Headline News and MoneyLine, America's Most
Wanted, The Discovery Channel, and the television special 48
Hours: Violence in the Workplace. Mr. Blythe has also been a
forum guest on The Microsoft Network. 

               Summary of Services

          "Hot" Threats of Violence: CMI assists companies
in assessing and handling potentially dangerous people.
On-site and telephone consultations with management and
other appropriate individuals are provided by licensed
Mental Health professionals and former FBI agents to
defuse threats and stabilize potentially violent situations.

          Design Team Process for Comprehensive Workplace
Violence Prevention: Utilizing our experience in helping
hundreds of companies with workplace violence, CMI will
consult with your internal, multi-disciplinary team to
develop a comprehensive approach for preventing and
managing workplace violence. This Design Team Process will
identify foreseeable risks, enhance existing controls,
introduce new controls, develop policies and procedures
specific to the company's identified risks, and plan an
implementation schedule. The end result is a prevention
system, protected under attorney/client privilege, that
meets or exceeds OSHA and legal standards and provides a
structured management response to threats or acts of
violence that is both psychologically and legally sound.

          Threats of Violence/Crisis Response Training:
Hands-on facilitation prepares management, TOV teams, and
selected employees for potentially violent situations. The
program covers prediction, prevention, and defusing hot
threats of violence as well as aggression management and
post-crisis response. Practical case studies based on actual
experience are included.

          Post-incident Crisis Intervention: Available 24
hours a day, CMI has the worlds largest network of crisis
psychologists who are trained and experienced in corporate
crisis and disaster intervention. We provide reliable and
effective services to deal with any level of traumatic
incident. Crisis Management International has handled
hundreds of corporate crises from small to large, including
the World Trade Center bombing, Oklahoma City Federal
Building bombing, Hurricane Andrew, Los Angeles and San
Francisco earthquakes, commercial and corporate airplane
crashes, workplace murders and assaults, explosions and
other industrial accidents.

          Psych-Claims Management: CMI offers analysis and
strategy for all psychological injury litigation and
workers' comp claims. CMI's affiliate company, Claims
Management International, provides support services for the
defense in disputing claims, including Post-Traumatic Stress
Disorder (PTSD) and closed-head injuries.

          SCAN: CMI offers a proven method of detection
deception without the restrictions associated with the
employee polygraph. SCAN is an extensive analysis of a
person's spoken or written words. This methodology can be
applied to sexual harassment cases, hot threats of violence,
sabotage, shrinkage, or any situation in which deception is
suspected and your company needs to know the truth.

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          SCAN: Scientific Content Analysis


How SCAN Works

SCAN is an established and reliable method for obtaining
information and detecting deception from written or spoken
statements. What distinguishes SCAN from other interrogative
processes is that it first seeks to clear subjects who are
exhibiting truthful linguistic behavior. Other processes
usually operate on the assumption that all subjects have
something to hide. In SCAN, only those subjects who exhibit
inconsistencies within sentence structure, ..., and
sequences of events are labeled as problematic by the
analyst. When there ... a few of these inconsistencies, the
analyst tallies the evidence that shows the subject ...
being deceptive, or that he or she is showing sensitivity
about a certain topic. This sensitivity is a sign that the
subject is not giving the full story.

Who uses SCAN?

This methodology is employed by intelligence, investigative,
and law enforcement agencies around the world. But it is
also very useful in most areas of business and law. SCAN can
help you any time your company needs to know the truth. SCAN
is not like most interrogation techniques which are usually
invasive and confrontational. This would not be suitable for
a business setting. Whereas traditional techniques require
that an interviewer ask questions while the subject gives
short, rather uninformative answers, the collections of
material for SCAN linguistic analysis requires that the
subject talk or write at some length to give their side of
the story. This non-threatening manner of obtaining a pure
version of the subject's account yields much more material
to analyze and a greater likelihood of finding any
linguistic cues that indicate deception.

Businesses of all kinds may find themselves experiencing
threats of violence, sexual harassment cases, sabotage,
internal and external theft (shrinkage), conspiracy, and
white-collar crime. SCAN analysis helps to determine if a
seemingly threatening individual really means what they are
saying. It also helps to decide whether to believe someone
when they say they had "nothing to do with it."

Insurance companies process millions of fraudulent claims
each year, which are often settled even though the claims
adjusters have reasonable suspicions that the claims are not
legitimate. While it is impossible to catch every instance
of fraud, it is possible - and worthwhile - to have the
largest claims examined. CMI is experienced in managing
claims of all sizes and offers SCAN analysis as an adjunct
service to help obtain the whole story behind the claim.

Attorneys are naturally good at digging for information -
but it is sometimes difficult to know exactly where to dig.
A CMI analyst, present at a deposition, can discreetly
indicate to counsel where a witness may be leaving out
potentially important information. If a completed deposition
is already on file, an analyst can check witness' statements
for consistency and truthfulness, which allows for better
preparation for court or for an easy settlement. For times
when an insurance or claim comes to suit, SCAN can determine
if CMI's Claims Management Services may benefit the case.

CMI's SCAN Technology:

     is a comprehensive structuring of several techniques
and methodologies. As utilized by CMI, SCAN serves as the
foundation on which linguistic analysis can be built,
supplemented by CMI-developed technologies that include
linguistic "credibility" analysis, principles of logic,
tenets of Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), and
interviewing/interrogation techniques.

     is used in behalf of its client companies to:

     a. Detect deception 
     b. Assist in dangerousness assessments 
     c. Clear the innocent in situations where there are     
        numerous persons who had both access and 
        opportunity (such as sabotage, shrinkage, etc.).
     d. Provide a sufficient basis of "reasonable 
        suspicion" as required for polygraph.

     offers benefits/advantages of SCAN over other methods;
interpreting physical indicators of deception is subjective,
at best. Further, body and eye movements (and most global
indicators) vary among cultures, making accurate
interpretation even more inexact. SCAN analyzes only     
the subject's words, making it completely unobtrusive and
much more objective. SCAN can be conducted even more
effectively through a questionnaire approach.

SCAN vs. Polygraph:

The use of lie detector apparatus (polygraph) on employees
is controlled by the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of
1988 (EPPA), Public Law 100-347. EPPA restrictions include
prohibitions on polygraph use, and specific notification
requirements. The EPPA does not prohibit or restrict
written "pen and paper" tests or screening. Therefore, SCAN
can be used as both a precursor to Polygraph or as a
replacement. Further, SCAN and SCAN questionnaires can
produce results comparable to (and in some instances better
than) polygraph. SCAN may produce the desired results
and completely replace the need for polygraph, and do so in
a much less accusatory environment.

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More detail at links to each of CMI services.