Martin Richards

Martin Richards is an international kidnap and extortion negotiator with over twenty years’ experience in hostage and crisis negotiation.

He spent 30 years in the UK Metropolitan Police, reaching the rank of Chief Superintendent, where he had command responsibility over a series of high-profile major incidents. He was head of the leadership academy, and worked on secondment to the Home Office, National Police Powers and Policy Unit and concluded his service as UK Director of strategic police command firearms training.
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Earlier in his career, Martin was a leader within the firearms department, surveillance teams and public order units. He was, for 14 years, an international hostage and crisis negotiator coordinator for the Metropolitan Police and was deployed to negotiate the release of UK citizens throughout the globe including, Afghanistan, Africa, Iraq, and Israel.

He was an advisor to overseas UK ambassadors and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on international kidnap management and has received several chief officer commendations, including one case in Afghanistan resulting in the release of three hostages, for which he received recognition from the UN Sec Gen and the UK Prime Minister.

Martin regularly assessed students on the UK national hostage and crisis negotiators course and is a graduate of the FBI negotiators programme in Quantico. As a hostage negotiator, Martin was also deployed to manage numerous suicide interventions and assist persons who were in an immediate crisis.
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Following his retirement in 2011, Martin Richards joined Control Risks, a security consultancy where, for five years, he managed kidnap incidents for corporate clients and led more than 200 training programmes in over 40 countries.
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He designed and implemented a selection of new training courses, ranging from e-learning to fully immersive exercises, covering kidnap management, piracy, siege management, terrorism, hostage survival, kidnap prevention, negotiation in business, family liaison and victim communications.
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After he left Control Risks, he joined Bloomberg LP in Hong Kong employed as a regional security director for the company’s operations in Africa, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific regions. Here he developed and refined travel safety, security and crisis management protocols.
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In 2017, he returned to the UK, where he formed his own company and continues to teach crisis management and leadership to private clients. He is also retained by a security consultancy, and regularly deploys to assist clients manage kidnap/extortion and crisis incidents.

As a sought-after keynote speaker and workshop trainer, Martin Richards uses his hostage and crisis negotiation skills to help people improve their own communication skills, avoid and resolve conflict and have better conversations.

He has demonstrably proven that these skills enhance both business and private relationships. His unique training ranges from dealing with families in a crisis to helping individuals deal with everyday difficult conversations, interviews and business transactions.

Popular keynote speech topics include:
• Dealing with Stressful and Emotional Conversations
• Planning For and Dealing with Difficult People
• Navigating Through Sensitive Conversations
• How to Influence and Persuade a Change in Behaviour
• Negotiation in business

Following Martin’s keynote presentation, organisations have witnessed remarkable transformations, fostering a heightened sense of empathy and cultural awareness among their employees. This has lead to stronger relationships with clients, partners, and stake holders, amplifying their overall impact and success.

Some of his most significant achievements lie in assisting crisis teams and individuals in navigating immediate crises. Martin’s expertise has proven invaluable in attaining successful resolutions, even under the most demanding circumstances.

Team Building Workshops – Half day or full day interactive sessions

Be A Police Negotiator
This session benefits a group of friends or work colleagues looking for a unique team building event and to help with bonding.

Test your conflict resolution skills as a police hostage negotiator during a 'live' role play scenario of an armed police siege. Learn basic active listening skills and how to work as a team to resolve a challenging and stressful situation.

This training is intended to provided delegates with a safe environment in which to test their conflict resolution and communication skills. Our experts will supply feedback on individual performance and offer assessment against the UK’s National Negotiator Course criteria.

Mastering Effective Communication/Negotiation
This course will equip attendees with rapport-building and persuasion skills to assist in everyday business or private negotiations. In the session we will discuss how negotiating in hostage and life-threatening crisis scenarios can be transferable to everyday situations.

Conversation Styles
It’s important to understand ‘how’ people like to be listened to and their style.

Creating and maintaining a dialogue
Learn how to establish the right atmosphere and convey the right attitude to ensure the continuance of a conversation.

Active listening, empathy and building rapport
The foundation stones of influencing. Explore the steps required in how to demonstrate empathy and build relationships. See how to earn the right to problem solve.

Persuasion skills
Listen to the art of persuasion and the skills that can help influence and change behaviour.

Dealing with emotions
How trauma impacts on the mind/body will be explained and various coping skills and strategies will be discussed.

Common mistakes
Using certain words, adopting the wrong tone, and displaying inappropriate behaviour can damage rapport.

Assertive behaviour
It's not all about listening and there are times when you may need to be authoritative. You will be introduced to an effective method that uses the skills of active listening.

Trust
Building trust takes time and requires a demonstration of your reliability. We will explore what can damage trust and how you can create it.

Risk
Conversations can be risky and have the potential to damage relationships. Having a strategy and conducting a risk assessment can inform your actions and anticipate the likely outcome.

Leading & Decision Making in a Crisis
An immersive journey with our interactive, scenario-led course, crafted to equip leaders for the challenges of steering the response to high-stakes crisis incidents. Designed to prepare individuals when there's a substantial risk to people, assets, information, or reputation.

The course includes scenario-based simulations mirroring real-world crisis incidents. These hands-on exercises provide a realistic environment, allowing participants to hone their decision-making skills in situations fraught with serious risks.

Crisis incidents may involve more time critical decision making and are demanding and complex scenarios. This workshop will give delegates a basic understanding of the issues they are likely to face, the decision-making structure required and the procedures to be followed.

Awareness & Resilience
This training is intended to help delegates assess, prepare, and mitigate for the risk of being a victim of crime. We will advise on how to prepare psychologically for exposure to hostile environments and how to survive a traumatic event and its aftermath. The course is suited for anyone where violent crime or stressful environments presents a credible risk.

Prevention
The facilitator will discuss with you best practice in personal safety and explain effective anti-surveillance techniques that you can use on foot or in vehicles.

Intuition
Recognising the importance of intuition and how it manifests can help you prevent becoming a victim. Simple mental exercises will be shown to explain how instinct works and the benefits of trusting them.

Effects of emotional trauma
Should you become a victim of a violent crime being able to recognise the effects on your mental health will ensure you are better able to deal with the aftermath. The facilitator will list what symptoms to look out for and how to deal with them.

How criminals select victims and actions at the point of attack
Knowing how criminals prepare for attacks and how you act at the point of a violent crime can affect the outcome and increase your safety. The facilitator will demonstrate communication skills that may diffuse and calm perpetrators emotions and share the mistakes that exacerbate the situation.

Victim mindset
How trauma impacts on the mind/body will be explained and various coping skills and strategies will be discussed.

Clients often ask about purchasing books for giveaways and delegate packs. Below you’ll find a selection of products by Martin Richards. Click the images to view on Amazon's website. For bulk orders, please speak with your Booking Agent.