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. --------- 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. --------- More detail at links to each of CMI services.