Mackney negotiated a peaceful resolution with team effort
By Andrew Harris,
Wellsville woke up this Monday morning with an very dangerous situation unfolding near Wellsville Secondary School. A school auto-call informed parents, staff, and students that a law enforcement issue was unfolding nearby and school would be cancelled for the day. Neighborhoods in the area were warned to lock doors and stay away from windows.
Soon the news emerged that a man with a shotgun had fired shots and was barricaded inside a West State Street apartment building. A massive multi-agency response was successful in taking the subject into custody without injury. Details of that negotiation have emerged and once again, veteran lawman and current Allegany County Undersheriff Walt Mackney, talked the distressed man into laying down the weapon and surrendering.
Mackney, who is a former NYS Police Officer and instructor at the Alfred State Police Academy, answered some of our questions about that dangerous Monday morning:
SUN: Can you describe the scene last Monday morning near the Wellsville Secondary School when you arrived ?
Undersheriff Mackney: When I arrived on scene, it wasn’t really close to the school. The residence in question was probably halfway between Pleasant and Highland on West State Street. The intersection of Pleasant and West State was blocked off by Wellsville PD & NYSP vehicles. I went around across Pleasant to Pine and up Pine to Highland where I took a position blocking the intersection of Highland and West State Street. That’s where I was needed at the time. I could see other Wellsville PD and NYSP vehicles down near the residence in question and Officers & Troopers taking up positions to contain the individual and keep him from leaving the residence. This allowed the police to evacuate the residents located in the east part of the duplex a short time after I arrived. The situation was well controlled and contained as additional Officers arrived to block off Pine Street at both ends. When I got another Deputy on scene (Tim Hand, who is also a negotiator), he took my post and I worked my way back around to where Sgt. Green was trying to make contact with the subject via the P.A. system in his car. When I got there, he handed me the mic and I was able to establish a dialogue which started with me getting him to give us a ”thumbs up” signal to indicate that he was all right and could hear me.
SUN: During last week’s Allegany County Legislature appearance, Deputy Tim Hand indicated that you were responsible for communicating with the armed individual and were successful in bringing the situation to a peaceful conclusion. After years in state and local law enforcement I have to ask…. how many times have you played this lead role, the guy talking someone off a ledge ? What is your secret sauce ?
Undersheriff Mackney: I became a negotiator for the State Police sometime in 1993 or 1994. I can’t put a number on how many times I have done this during that time period. There have been a lot. All with successful conclusions. This was my second negotiation since becoming Undersheriff with the first last year in the Village of Alfred. When you arrive at one of these incidents, you are dealing with someone who is probably having the worse day of his/her life. Whether because of alcohol, drugs or just a series of events that has pushed them to the edge, they are now in crisis. Our job is to help them navigate through that crisis and peacefully resolve the situation. I want to stress that these are team efforts. There were other crisis negotiators from the NYSP and Sheriff’s Office there that day and Wellsville PD Sgt. Chad Green helped prepare the opening for me to step in and start a dialogue with the individual. I have no “secret sauce” other than just being willing to actively listen to the persons issues and the patience and understanding to help them work through them.
SUN: Will this situation become a case study as an instructor at the Alfred State College Police Academy ? What is the main lesson your students should take away from this particular incident ?
Undersheriff Mackney: We don’t really have a class on hostage/barricade negotiations at the Alfred State police Academy although we do discuss this during the ALERRT active shooter class that I help instruct. I teach several classes on various topics at the Academy and I always end up regaling my captive audience with a “war story” or two but I doubt it will become a case study. If there is a lesson to be learned it’s that communication is key to everything we do and we need to have empathy for everyone that we deal with as Police Officers. Also teamwork amongst all agencies is paramount for a successful resolution to any major incident. It’s a small county. We’re all in this together.
