Police Expert on Violence Knows What Makes People Tick

Michael Corcoran freely admits that he’s nosy. He’s just a naturally curious kind of guy.

But his curiosity extends beyond what people are doing to what they are capable of doing and why.

For 29 years, it has been his profession, his craft and his passion to decipher the motives behind human behavior and to anticipate when violence is likely to occur.

During his nine years in the 1970s with the U.S. Secret Service, the lives of presidents and other high-ranking government officials depended on his skills.

“We were the ones who primarily determined if somebody was truly a threat against the president or the vice president of the United States, or any other dignitary,” said Corcoran, 48, a Huntington Beach police officer with a doctorate in behavioral science.

“I gleaned some valuable insight and I also interviewed a lot of nuts--just flat-out nuts. Sometimes they would write threatening letters. Sometimes it would be something as simple as somebody who would call us up and say: ‘I was just with so-and-so in the bar and he said Nixon’s a jerk and he was going to knock him off.’

“There was no one category you could fit these people into. The antisocial personality is the one we hear about most, but basically it covered the gamut, from substance abuse, antisocial disorders and depression disorders to schizophrenics. I learned you can never determine from mere conversation or from appearances who is truly dangerous and who is not.”

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But his experiences and training in the Secret Service did not satisfy his desire to dig deeper into the human psyche.

He resigned from the Secret Service to complete his doctorate from the UCLA School of Medicine, then joined the Huntington Beach Police Department in 1979. He organized the city’s first hostage negotiation team in the early 1980s.

“I had one hostage situation where the SWAT team was on the phone with this guy and I told them: ‘Just hang up on the guy. I’m telling you, just hang up on him, because in 10 minutes he’s going to come out. Alert your guys out there because he’s going to be coming out.’

“And sure enough, in seven minutes, the guy comes running out. The first line of SWAT guys were so surprised, he got past them. But the second line got him. I didn’t predict that he was going to come out nude, however.

“They were shocked that I could predict this kind of behavior. But during the hostage situation, you’ve got detectives who are doing as much background work as they can on this person. They give me all this information and I’m also listening to what he’s saying and how he’s saying it. I’m making kind of a diagnosis, and from that I can make a prognosis of what’s likely to happen.

“This person was suffering from a bipolar disorder, which makes people go up and down, up and down. And he was just going into his up phase. I could tell that he wanted some stimulus and he had to come out. We’d already surrounded the place and there was nowhere else for him to go. It was too quiet for him.”

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Corcoran plans to retire from police work in a few years and concentrate exclusively on his consulting business. He advises employers on the potential for violence in the workplace and investigates employees when a threat has been made.

Employee rage is being fed by corporate downsizing, Corcoran said, coupled with fear of failure and family disintegration. But if alienation is detected early enough, the solution can be as simple as reassignment or vacation.

“People are looking for something to hang onto. But no longer can they always turn to family for support. They are at work at least eight hours a day, five days a week, so this now becomes their life. But if things start to go awry at work, then they can become seriously stressed. Workplace violence does not usually happen spontaneously. The overwhelming majority of these people take great pains to plan these things out.”

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Profile: Michael Corcoran

Age: 48

Hometown: Sonoma, Calif.

Residence: Laguna Hills

Family: Wife, Valene; five children

Education: Bachelor’s degree in law enforcement and business administration, San Jose State University; master’s degree in counseling, Newport University; doctorate in behavioral science, UCLA School of Medicine

Background: Police officer for the San Jose Police Department for two years; U.S. Secret Service agent for nine years; joined Huntington Beach Police Department in 1979, where he organized department’s first hostage negotiation team and co-founded city’s D.A.R.E. program; former president of Orange County D.A.R.E. Officers Assn.; began consulting work about 10 years ago and currently specializes in workplace violence; a founder and board member, Assn. of Threat Assessment Professionals

On police work: “They say there are two main things that make for a good cop: Either you’re highly suspicious, or you’re extremely nosy. I’m extremely nosy. I’m just the curious type.”

Source: Michael Corcoran; Researched by RUSS LOAR / For The Times