Hostage Class a Lesson on Survival If Held Captive

No one seemed surprised Saturday when three masked “gunmen” burst into a room at Marina Village and took seven San Diego residents “hostage” for more than 10 minutes. In fact, the seminar instructor applauded the action.

The gunmen and hostages were participants in a workshop to teach the participants what to do--and what not to do--if they are ever taken captive.

The workshop was sponsored by the continuing education program of La Jolla University and was taught by Susan Townsend, who has a doctorate degree in human behavior from the university and has spent part of the last two decades studying human behavior during hostage crises.

Although Townsend has never been held captive, she said she has extensively studied international terrorism, former prisoners of war and the yearlong American hostage crisis in Iran.

Townsend said she became dedicated to studying the behavior of hostages after Patricia Hearst was taken captive in February, 1974. She said she kept thinking about what she would do in that situation.

The best thing a hostage can do is obey the captors while trying not to show fear or degradation, she said.

“It’s important that hostages know who is boss. Remain calm and obey, because their (captors) answer might be to pull the trigger.”

She said eye contact with the captors could be good because it promotes communication, but she warned against looking at the captors too much because they may feel the person is studying them to give police a description.

“If you are a curious individual, you must curb that curiosity,” she said.

Townsend said the workshop was her first, but she said she would like to hold others because recent increases in terrorism mean that anyone could be a hostage and knowing how to react can save lives.

Some of the participants in Saturday’s workshop said they believed it was worthwhile because it forced them to think about what they would do if they were taken hostage.

The participants work in careers ranging from law enforcement to banking, Townsend said. The 11 people paid $45 each to attend the class, which also included a discussion on how to react and an evaluation of how they did react when the gunmen burst in the room.

Although the enactment looked a bit silly, most participants said they were emotionally affected by the ordeal, although none claimed to be frightened.

“It got irritating,” said Dave Douglas, community relations officer with the San Diego Police Department. “I wanted to hit (the gunmen). That type of situation is probably one of the most dangerous situations a cop can come across.”

He said the gunmen made the situations seem almost real, but he added that real guns with blank ammunition should have been used instead of the green toy machine guns.