Patricia Hearst Psychological Warfare Case

A Case of Psychological Warfare Patricia Hearst was a young college student who was abducted from her apartment one afternoon by a group of domestic radicalistic people known as the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). She was held in captivity for two months in rigorous conditions. Growing up her family was very wealthy, and her father was a dominant figure in the media. This being one of the few reasons she was targeted. She was seen committing crimes with the SLA, and the question soon arose, was she still being held against her will? It was not long before she was captured on camera committing crimes with the group, confirming their fears, she had become one of them (Orth). The Federal Bureau of Investigations soon sought after her arrest.

The most notorious incident being her robbing the Hibernia bank at gun point on April 15 1974 (Citation FBI). The bank released a photo to the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) of Patty in the bank with a massive assault weapon. Initially, the FBI issued a warrant for her arrest as a material witness, while the four counterparts were issued warrants for bank robbery. This crime was a turning point for the investigation into her abduction, because up until this point it was still thought that she was being held against her will. About two weeks later, on May 16th, 1974, members of the SLA are caught stealing ammunition from a local store, Mel’s Sporting Goods in Los Angeles. The members were tackled by store employees when suddenly gunfire came into the store from a van sitting across the street, firing the gun was Patty (White). In August of 1975, the SLA was responsible for the bombing of various government agencies across the state of California. It was becoming more than obvious that she was committing these crimes at her own free will (Orth). Which in turn awards her a spot on the FBI’s top ten most wanted list

The FBI had been strategically planning the takedown of the SLA, and on May 16th 1975 the plan was executed (Citation FBI). The FBI raided one of the safe houses of the SLA. They located the house after closely following the van caught leaving Mel’s Sporting Goods store that they were attempting to steal from. During the raid, it became a shootout between the SLA and the FBI. In turn, the FBI killing six members of the SLA, and the continuous use of gun fire causing the house to go up into flames. There was no sign of Patty at the safe house (Citation FBI). Agencies then began searching the area and setting up road blocks, in search of her. Unbeknownst to the FBI at the time, Patty had actually driven right through the roadblock and they let her go. The officer who cleared her had determined that she had resembled Patty, but was not her, not even realizing what they had done (Bancroft). She was arrested on September 18th, 1975 by the police (Citation