Crisis Incident Consultant:
Ernst is a retiree member of the South African Police Service after 36 years of service. During his term of service, he gained life experience while serving at a police station, psychological service and as manager of the specialised uniform support group which includes Disaster Management, Hostage Negotiations and
also Water Policing and Diving Services.
He was involved in the establishment of the Hostage Negotiation Team (Police Crises Negotiations), the psychological selection of members for the hostage release team (Special Task Force), managing a telephonic hotline for members of the police, and assisted in initiating the establishment of a post-traumatic stress debriefing programme. In 1990, Ernst Strydom was a founder member (instructor) of the Hostage Negotiation Team. He dealt with a variety of hostage incidents including the Royal Swazi Air Hijacking, the Modder B Prison siege and in collaboration with other roles players supported the families and functionaries during international kidnapping incidents including the Philippines (2000), Iraq (2006), Sudan (2010), Somalia (2010), Mali (2011), Yemen (2013) and Libya (2017).
He completed a PhD (Psychology) with research on children as hostages, and the training of hostage negotiators. He was also instrumental in developing the training standards related to hostage negotiation and his involvement in training included the development and presentation of the SARPCCO Generic Hostage Negotiation Training programme and participation in the development and presentation of an SARPCCO Counter Terrorism Course. He facilitated the development of a Crowd Conflict Management programme, aimed at equipping police members with communication skills to deal with groups of public protesters and other dissident groups. He also facilitated the development of the SAPS Disaster Management Training Programme.
He attended a course in Hostage Negotiation at the London Metropolitan Police during March 1995. During 1996 he attended a Crisis Negotiations course at the FBI Academy in Quantico. He represented the South African Police Service as a founder member of the International Negotiators Working Group in 2000, which focus on issues related to police negotiators worldwide. He is a registered Psychologist and keep abreast in the field of peer counselling and critical stress debriefing. He is involved in Mayday-SA Peers in the support of others since 2024.