TV viewers of a certain vintage will remember the hit show “Hill Street Blues,” a landmark serial police drama set in a gritty precinct of an unidentified U.S. city.  For several seasons, virtually every show began with a shift roll call, and Sergeant Phil Esterhaus would wrap up every roll call with his trademark admonishment to his assembled cops: “Hey (insert dramatic pause) - let’s be careful out there.”  It was a paternal farewell and an ominous reminder of the grave danger the cops faced every time they marched off to wage peace on the streets.  Viewers knew what was coming, yet they waited for him to say it every time.

That warning phrase came bubbling up through my memory as I read about two people being shot and killed in Phoenix at a mediation on January 30.  According to news reports, the 70-year old gunman was a party to a garden-variety business dispute mediation, which was being held at a law office in a business park.  Sometime during the session, one of the parties pulled out a handgun and opened fire, killing the opposing party and opposing counsel and wounding one bystander before escaping and shooting himself dead.  The shooter apparently had no history of violent behavior, although he is alleged to have had a temper and had filed 10 or more prior civil lawsuits against various defendants.

I bet many of the circumstances of this terrible story could describe nearly every mediation you have done outside of a courthouse – seemingly routine issues, law office, anonymous office park, parties with no known history of violence.  Yet, in Phoenix, three mediation participants were killed.  And that should give you and every ADR practitioner pause.  That could be you.  That could be me.

Let’s face this discomforting fact: ours can be a dangerous profession.  After all, our job is to intervene among people who are in crisis, who are often angry, frustrated, and agitated or may become so during the mediation.  If they’re in a lawsuit, it is likely one of the worst experiences of their lives.  They usually are not thinking clearly or rationally in the context of the dispute, and they are so stressed that if they feel at all threatened, they may react with aggression.  Yes, even if all of your participants wear expensive suits.  You can never be sure what kind of situation you are walking into. 

That’s why you – the trained mediator, protector of the process, and perhaps the only person in the room who is thinking clearly and rationally – have to ensure that sessions are conducted in as civil and productive a manner as possible.  Most of the time, things go well.  But mediation participants are predictably unpredictable.  Even if you do everything right, you still cannot truly control the behavior of others.  For example, a very experienced colleague was followed home last year and confronted in her driveway by an angry mediation participant.  Her kids were at home.  Think about that for minute.

Which brings to mind this axiom: where you mediate is as important as how you mediate.  We have always said that mediations are safest in courthouses with functioning metal detectors and security screening systems that are staffed by law enforcement and where armed deputies or marshals are but a few steps away.  Obviously not every mediation can be conducted in such a secure setting.  But if you routinely conduct mediations in office parks and office buildings with no security measures and no security personnel on site, you need to be aware that there is an elevated risk of danger to you and the participants.  The comfort and convenience of mediating in an office setting comes with a cost. (Of course, we know that even secured courthouses cannot guarantee safety.  Eight years ago, on March 11, 2005, three people – a judge, a court reporter, and a sheriff’s sergeant – were killed in the Fulton County Courthouse by a man on trial for rape who overpowered a deputy and took her gun.)

You should also be aware that your physical safety can be jeopardized by information you post in the digital world.  Michele Gibson, our marketing columnist and producer of BeNeutral, wrote in the May 2012 issue about how people can inadvertently make personal information available on the Internet.

Short of mediating in a fortress, what can you do to increase the likelihood that your mediation will begin and end safely?  Here are some tips that come to mind (this is by no means an exhaustive list):

And hey - let’s be careful out there.  Please.