In times of crisis, Tina Jaeckle helps people cope, cooperate and understand

In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks and Hurricane Katrina, U.S. law enforcement has had to push harder than ever to understand the mental issues involved in crisis situations, from post-traumatic stress to the motives behind terrorism.

To do that, officials turn to professionals and academics with experience in psychology and human behavior – people like Flagler College Assistant Professor Tina Jaeckle, who also teaches and conducts research at the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit.

Some might assume Jaeckle is a sort of criminal profiler, much like the character Clarisse in Silence of the Lambs.

In fact, Jaeckle has been exposed to a variety of violent crime cases and crisis situations during her years of professional and volunteer work. She has assisted with hostage negotiations and delivered “emotional first aid” at the scenes of murders, hurricanes and fatal accidents.

But she doesn’t tote a gun or carry a badge. Armed with expert knowledge and experience in criminology, sociology, dispute resolution and crisis counseling, Jaeckle serves the FBI and other law enforcement agencies as a resource for research and training.

“I’ve become kind of a crisis expert,” Jaeckle said. “I present to top-level police administrators from throughout the world on disaster and crisis implications, on managing those from a law-enforcement aspect … I can’t be an agent because I have a family, but I’ve always dreamed of working with them [the FBI] on some level.”

Greg Vecchi, Ph.D., is a supervisory special agent at the FBI’s Behavioral Science Unit. He instructs at the BSU’s National Academy, a program that brings together “the cream of the crop” from law enforcement agencies throughout the United States.

Vecchi said BSU researchers act as a “think tank” for cutting-edge law enforcement issues. As a consultant to the BSU, Jaeckle gets to work with those researchers and present to classes.

According to Vecchi, Jaeckle’s broad range of experience and academic research isn’t common – and her ability to discuss mental health issues with law enforcement officials is especially rare.

“Mental health with law enforcement is still a taboo subject,” Vecchi said. “They still don’t like to talk about it.

“But she can talk with them. They can know that it’s OK to feel bad, that you’re going to have moments of feeling overwhelmed … so when it happens to them, they’ll know how to deal with it.”

Vecchi said law enforcement is devoting more attention to mental health issues than ever because of the emotional fallout from recent disasters. When the FBI helped respond to the Lexington, Ky., plane crash last August, he said, “there were some people that still had a lot of cumulative stuff leftover from 9-11.”

Agents who had pulled dead bodies from the Pentagon or the Flight 93 plane crash in Shanksville, Penn., were reeling all over again as they worked at the Lexington site.

“It was never addressed from the mental health side,” Vecchi said. “You find there are a lot of complicated issues … [Jaeckle's crisis response work] is critical because pretty much all these big disasters are going to require everyone to work together: state, local, national – and not just police, but firefighters, Red Cross, shelters, churches.”

The type of person who people-watches in airports, Jaeckle said her interest in human behavior comes from a fascination with “the interplay between personal choice and societal factors.”

She is currently working toward a Ph.D. in conflict analysis and resolution. The term helps to describe her broad range of efforts, which include clinical social work, family/dependency mediation and mental health training for the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Department.

“I believe strongly in conflict resolution,” Jaeckle said. “We need to approach conflict from a deeper understanding of what causes it – needs, identity issues, etc. – because a lot of what we look at on an international scale, [such as] what’s going on in Iraq, is based in needs and identities.”

At Flagler, Jaeckle teaches courses with titles like “Sociology of Evil” and “Criminal Profiling.” Her students learn through stories from her experiences at crime and disaster scenes, and some work with professionals like Larry Ruby, a Florida Department of Law Enforcement criminal profiler.

Ruby has kept in touch with Jaeckle since she came to his office as a graduate school intern. He said they analyzed unsolved homicide cases together, sharing criminal justice and mental health perspectives on possible suspects and witnesses. Ruby has worked in law enforcement for 34 years.

“She broadened the way I look at things,” Ruby said. “All that [psychological] information is information that is valuable – especially when we’re dealing with new cases, especially when someone has mental health problems.”

Ruby added that people in his line of work are increasingly working with “the thinkers as opposed to the walking beat cops.” He said there is a need to better understand the psychological patterns and behavior behind violent crime and terrorism.

Jaeckle’s crisis work can be stressful. She finds comfort in her husband and two children, but some incidents still disturb her. Last year, she experienced the “most personally and professionally challenging crisis response” of her 18 years in the field: a family murder-suicide. The father brutally killed the mother, then the daughter, then himself. Jaeckle tried to educate and calm more than 20 traumatized people who lived or worked at the upscale condominium where the murders took place.

“In order to effectively work in the crisis intervention field, it requires a solid understanding of appropriate boundaries with those you assist,” Jaeckle said. “However, on some level, I am always touched by the stories and pain.”

Jaeckle continues her work with a purpose. For her, understanding human conflict – and sharing that understanding – is the most effective way to create positive change.

“Take the Jessica Lunsford case,” Jaeckle said. “What was it that made him [John Evander Couey] decide to kill this girl?

“When we as sociologists and criminologists can begin to understand that better, then perhaps we can determine the cues beforehand in order to prevent it.”

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