Download UNIT III CASE STUDYUnit III Case StudyColumbia Southern Univ and more Lecture notes Accounting in PDF only on Docsity! UNIT III CASE STUDY Unit III Case Study Columbia Southern University Historical Overview In 1993, the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Department of Justice carried out a significant operation that ended up taking fifty-one days at the Mount Carmel compound known for housing the Branch Davidians. On February 28 1993, FBI officials arrived at the compound located in Waco, Texas, to raid the house and place David Koresh under arrest. David Koresh was the head of a group who described themselves as the Branch Davidians and regarded themselves as Bible students (Childress, 2018). The involved law enforcement officials ended up having a standoff for 51 days, which saw the officers significantly negotiate with Koresh. However, despite the negotiations taking some time, David Koresh and others in the compound did not accept any proposal to leave (Benson, 2018). On April 19 1993, there were shots fired involving the Davidians and the law enforcement officials, which escalated the situation. Since the standoff had escalated to threat levels, the FBI and the ATF utilized gas bombs as a crucial tool to flash the Branch Davidians out of the compound, which led to a fire outbreak. According to Benson (2018), Davidians in the compound opted for a bunker as a shield from the spreading fire, which led to several people's death, with only eight members of the group making it out of Mount Carmel. The FBI's negotiator considered the negotiation a failure due to the escalation of the event and lack of a considerable solution to end the Siege. The 51-day standoff ended with several casualties, including four officers from the FBI, 82 members of the Branch Davidians group, and David Koresh himself. However, according to official presented reports by the FBI and the Department of Justice, the fire that consumed the Davidians in the compound was started inside the compound by the members of the group and that some members had been shot while in the compound (US Department of Justice Archives, n.d). Police Negotiation Factor during the Raid The negotiation involving David Koresh, the Branch Davidians leader, and the law enforcement officer in charge of the conversation, Byron Sage and other negotiators were considered a failure by the law enforcement officers and other represenatives of the United States. From the conversations of the two parties, it was clear that the law enforcement officer's in charge lacked police negotiation capability to de-escalate a situation. In other words, the negotiation displays the impact of various reframing activities and how they indicate engagement challenges experienced by the negotiators. The negotiators did not possess any legal frame compatibility to the developing situation. Additionally, the fact that the Branch Davidians had a religious perspective of the situation, it was difficult for the lead negotiators and Koresh to reach a solution that benefited both parties (Agne, 2007). The police negotiation factor in the Branch Davidians standoff presents a significant viewpoint for assessing crisis negotiation based on an ethical misunderstanding regarded as a challenging conversational activity instead of a presented element required to reach solutions. Impacts from Non-Law Enforcement Personnel During the Branch Davidians standoff, journalists from different media firms were covering the event. One significant mistake that the media made was reporting the raid live on television when it was expected to be top-secret. According to Kitchen (1993), the media were on the ground waiting for the raid to happen without understanding it was meant to be a discreet operation. The press's involvement led to issues regarding the role of media in certain situations, such as the Waco crisis. The core issue, in this case, was that the media lacked responsibility and discipline when it came to the incident, which jeopardized the officials' operation. Additionally, the compound residents also played a role in sabotaging the operations of law enforcement officers in the raid. For the standoff days, the compound residents did not provide any vital information to the FBI and ATF regarding the compound's activities. It was difficult for law enforcement officials to establish significant strategies to raid the compound
