“Colleyville Synagogue Hostage Crisis”

Presented by

Special Agent Matthew Wilkins

Special Agent Matthew Wilkins is a 20-year veteran of the FBI. After graduating from the FBI Academy in 2004, Agent Wilkins was assigned to the Tampa Field Office, where he investigated public corruption and white-collar crime matters.

In 2007, Agent Wilkins transferred to the Fort Worth Resident Agency in the Dallas Division, where he was assigned to an international corruption task force focused on cases originating out of Iraq and Afghanistan. While assigned to various squads in the Dallas Division over the next 17 years, Agent Wilkins has investigated a variety of criminal and national security matters including public corruption, white-collar and counterintelligence matters. Currently, Agent Wilkins serves as the FBI’s Airport Liaison Agent Coordinator for DFW International Airport and Dallas Love Field.

For the past 12 years Agent Wilkins has also served as a FBI Crisis Negotiator and member of the Dallas Crisis Negotiation Team. In this role Agent Wilkins has deployed on numerous occasions for high-risk warrant service missions, barricaded situations, suicidal persons and kidnapping/extortion cases.

“The Arlington Heights Hostage Crisis”

Presented by

Lieutenant Scott Tillema (ret.)

Lieutenant Scott Tillema (ret.) is a retired SWAT hostage negotiator, with over 20 years of law enforcement experience at the Schaumburg, Illinois, Police Department. He worked as a negotiator with the NIPAS Emergency Services Team, one of the largest multi-jurisdictional municipal SWAT teams in the United States.

Educationally, Scott holds a bachelor’s degree in behavioral science and a master’s degree in psychology. Additionally, Scott has received negotiation training from the FBI and though the Harvard University Program on Negotiation and IMD Business School.

In 2016, Scott was invited to give a TED talk, which he titled “The Secrets of Hostage Negotiators” which has received over one million views.

“K9 Hostage Crisis Incident”

Presented by

Patrick Doering (ret.)

Patrick Doering has been employed in law enforcement since 1996 and recently retired in 2024. He has been a Crisis/Hostage Negotiator since 2004 and was the St. Charles County Regional Crisis Negotiation Team Commander for three years. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, the FBI National Crisis Negotiation Course, and the London Metropolitan Police (Scotland Yard) National Negotiators course. Patrick is the former President and co-founder of the Missouri Association of Crisis Negotiators. He has presented case studies at several negotiation conferences across the country. He is currently the Crisis Negotiation Section Chair for the National Tactical Officers Association.

Patrick has also written two books on the history of negotiations, “Crisis Cops and Crisis Cops 2,” where he interviewed pioneers from the 1970s and ‘80s. He traces the evolution of “crisis negotiations” and shares their stories—colorful, comical, tragic, and heartbreaking—distilling the essential communications, tactical, and human lessons he and his colleagues have learned through the years.