Online Version of the Hostage Barricade Database System (HOBAS)

HOBAS - ONLINE
By SSA John Flood, Crisis Negotiation Unit
Federal Bureau of Investigation

Fellow Negotiators,

The online version of the Hostage Barricade Database System (HOBAS) is now available online. You can access it via the Law Enforcement Negotiation Support (LENS) homepage on Law Enforcement On-Line (LEO). Just click on the HOBAS button and then follow the instructions on the page.

We appreciate your patience with this project. The reason we've gone to the online version is to allow users to directly access current statistics, build your own reports via a new search capability and contribute incident reports directly into the HOBAS database. The previous versions of HOBAS did not allow for these features. We wanted to give you more access to your statistics. We've also built in "filters" that allow you to see statistics for particular geographic regions of the U.S.

You will notice that the incident numbers are around 600-700. We have about 3000 incident reports. Due to the new system, we're in the process of re-loading all the incidents. You'll see the numbers increase on a day by day basis until all are loaded. Please let your negotiator colleagues know that HOBAS is still active and in need of incidents. We've been hearing that there is perception that HOBAS no longer is in need of incidents. That is not true. We are always looking for new incident reports.

We'd like you to take a look at the features and let us know what you think. We're already planning some upgrades and new features.

SSA John Flood can be contacted at 703-632-4199 or e-mail him at jflood@leo.gov. If you are not currently participating in Law Enforcement On-Line (LEO) you are missing a valuable resource for any law enforcement officer.