Lance Burdett has 22 years of policing experience and 13 years as a crisis negotiator. There are few careers that carry the continual pressure as front line police work, and crisis negotiators face the most complex and challenging situations. The stakes in crisis negotiation are extremely high and reading the patterns, processes, emotions and contexts at the same time as working towards peaceful resolutions requires a degree of expertise, composure and focus that most of us will never attain.

Out of this experience there is much to learn about coping, stress management and resilience. The truth is that despite the pressures of the role most real life crisis negotiators do not turn to alcohol or drugs or crime to cope. While every one of them is changed significantly by this career it is a myth to believe that exposure to very high pressure contexts will inevitably result in brokenness and despair.

Lance has crafted an excellent post-police career in advising, training and teaching on resilience. He is the founder and CEO of WARN International where he focus’s on Wellness, Awareness, Resilience and Negotiation.

I have had the privilege of meeting Lance on a number of occasions and learning from his expertise so I was very pleased when I heard that he has recently published a book describing his life experiences in policing. 

it is a great read for the history and stories but it also contains gems on resilience, growth and coping with stressful work conditions. New Zealanders will be familiar with some of the cases Lance played a key role in resolving, but every reader will gain valuable insight with familiar accounts. 

The book is “Behind the Tape” and it is published by Allen & Unwin, Auckland New Zealand (August 2016)

Lance can be contacted through LinkedIn at https://nz.linkedin.com/in/warnlance

WARN is at http://www.warninternational.com/