FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- Crisis negotiation is one of law enforcement’s most effective tools. There are tens of thousands of standoffs with police each year. Many of those turn into several hour long events with evacuations of entire neighborhoods. At the center of the scene there is usually a crisis negotiator trying to work out a peaceful solution.

When Richard Shenkman kidnapped his estranged wife and barricaded himself in his South Windsor home, a crisis negotiator was called in to talk him out. After several hours, his wife escaped and SWAT moved in.

In 2002, in another headline making story, a crisis negotiator was in the middle of the action when Fairfield University was locked down after a former student there took an entire classroom hostage and claimed to have a bomb.

Fairfield Police Deputy Chief Gary MacNamara was doing the negotiating that day. Over the years he has talked people into surrendering at standoffs all across the region.

MacNamara said, “If we didn’t have a crisis negotiator, who is the one who is going to find out what the person in crisis wants.”

The standoff at Fairfield University was MacNamara’s first. There were 27 students and a professor that were held in a second floor classroom by Patrick Arbello.

MacNamara said, “We pretty much established communication very quickly. He wasn’t letting anyone go.”

Rachel Brown was one of the students who held hostage. She said, “This wasn’t that long after September 11 so when somebody came in and said they were doing something like a terrorist action, we were terrified.”

From the command center, MacNamara started dealing with the suspect’s demands communicating by hand held radio.

MacNamara said, “You have to insert yourself in a little bit to see how and why the person is feeling that way.”

Brown said, “It was like a lifeline every time he talked on the radio. This voice who just sounded like he knew what he was doing. We were less afraid when this voice was talking.“

MacNamara and his team worked into the night. Seven and a half hours after it started, Arbello surrendered. Brown credits everyone involved but said it was MacNamara who helped her get through the crisis.

Brown said, “It meant a lot to be able to hear him. I don’t know how people who are in hostage negotiations if they can’t hear the negotiator. It has to be terrifying for them.”

MacNamara said, “At the end, you realize exactly what you were doing and there were people in the classroom that needed your help to get out and once they’re out you’re able to sit back and realize there was some stressed involved in it.”