[lbwtaylor]

But the hostage takers are the ones who created the hostage situation, not the police. They are the ones that caused the risk to the lives of the hostages - in fact that it the whole purpose of hostage taking, to use human lives as bargaining chips.

I understand it is rational to want the police to cooperate with hostage takers if you are a hostage. But if the police successfully orchestrate a rescue, how is it rational to prefer the hostage takers to the police? One created the problem, one solved it?

[itishappy]

Don't equate criticism for police with a preference for hostage takers. In my view that's exactly the point of the article.

The police told her to prepare to die at her post. She criticized that response. "You developed the hots for your captors!" was the response to her criticism.

[pasabagi]

The expectations for hostage-takers are pretty low, whereas the expectations for police are, if not sky-high, at least that they won't kill or injure you.

Disappointment is often proportionate to anger.

There's a second point which is, from a political perspective, police behaviour can be easily changed. Desperate criminal behaviour cannot.

[mewpmewp2]

These are all valid explanations or potentiators for what can cause the phenomena or syndrome, but it doesn't mean that the behavior is accurate to the truth.

She chose to spoke in a way that condemned the police who tried to help you and she chose to spoke kindly to the hostage takers - you can frame everything in anyway you want.

But reality is that police tried to do good for society while hostage takers were actively putting her in risk and trying to take from the society.

To be empathetic to the police, they were also under tremendous stress, and had never seen a situation like that, Sweden had never seen this, and like the article said they hadn't trained for that. They tried to make the best of the bad situation they could, and after managing to have everyone lives intact, they were still condemned by someone who they tried to save, and that someone was speaking kindly of the people who caused the situation in the first place.