2025 Blue KC Answering the Call Honoree Ben Lindsay
Supervisor of the Kansas City Missouri Police Department crisis negotiation team featured in the month of May
Sergeant Ben Lindsay pulled up on a situation with a man’s life literally on the line. Thanks to being calm under pressure, Lindsay was able to resolve the situation and nobody got hurt.
The man had been on foot off the side of Interstate 49, waving a gun at drivers. When officers approached him, the man dropped the gun but ran away with a knife to his throat.
Lindsay, the supervisor of the Kansas City Missouri police department crisis negotiation team, arrived at the scene not knowing what had transpired before he got there. He just knew that a man was in a desperate situation and needed help.
Lindsay talked with the man for about 90 minutes, eventually convincing him to drop the knife.
“The guy was pretty much cornered,” Lindsay said recently of the incident in early April. He didn’t want to give up to police officers. What had happened before that was kind of irrelevant. We were just trying to build rapport with the guy, for him to trust us and know that we weren’t going to hurt him.
“I was trying to let him know that it was going to be okay, and that we could all go home from this and nothing bad had to happen. I convinced him that, even in his darkest day—and he seemed to be in that day right then—light will always shine.
“We were able to get him help in a very peaceful manner.”
That approach—to that situation and to his job in general—is why Lindsay is the May recipient of the “Blue KC Answering the Call” award, sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City and benefitting The Battle Within. The Battle Within is an organization that helps former military personnel and first responders cope with the sometimes-hidden trauma of their careers.
Lindsay considers himself fortunate that he hasn’t felt the need to lean on The Battle Within for his own struggles, but he’s very appreciative of what TBW can and will do for his colleagues on the force.
“It’s about understanding that everybody fights their own battles, and everybody has their own demons,” Lindsay said. “If somebody like The Battle Within can have empathy for people, no matter what the situation is, they can be helped and healed.”
Lindsay has been on the job since January 2007, and he’s been part of the crisis negotiation team for the last five years. The crisis negotiation team is not simply looking for volunteers. There’s extensive training required, besides the passion for helping people even beyond that of a regular first responder.
“There’s a 40-hour course that the FBI or another negotiator company puts on,” Lindsay said. “But then there’s lots more training on top of that. We all have to go through that. We have conferences and competitions that help us hone our skill.
“It’s a skill that if you don’t keep using it, you’ll lose it. There is definitely a skill to be able to talk to somebody in crisis and have them listen to you and know that you have empathy and the wherewithal to see it through.”
Lindsay said the training worked perfectly in the situation in April.
“We had to convince him that days will get better,” he said. “You can have a series of bad days, but eventually things will get better. Eventually, I think he understood that I was there, and not just me, but the other negotiators, were there to get him help.”
It’s not a calling for everyone, but Lindsay is proud to “answer the call.”
“You have to have that empathy for people, and look at it like, this person needs help, and I can help him or her. The top goal for us is that the SWAT guys don’t have to do their jobs.”
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