Local hostage negotiator reacts to Alabama kidnapper

Goleta mayor, Roger Aceves used to be a hostage negotiator.

In 1994, Jose Segura took his son hostage at a home on Bath Street in Santa Barbara. Aceves was credited with convincing Segura to let his son go. It took more than 24 hours of negotiations. Aceves tells NewsChannel 3 about the process of convincing a hostage-taker to give up.

“As a negotiator, that’s what you want to do is have the person give up,” Aceves said. “So, on the phone, voice to voice, is to build up the trust. Make the person understand it is not as big a deal as they think it may be — diffuse it. And, talk them out safely. And, when it doesn’t work that way, you are going to feel a sense of failure.”

Aceves worked in law enforcement for 32 years. He spent part of his career with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department and part of it with the Santa Barbara Police Department.