How Would Police Plausibly handle a suicidal jumper off a bridge?

[jjabrams55]

Say someone wants to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge and your are the first Police officer on the scene. Without any research whatsoever, I came up with this scenario of how they might handle it:

Police: What's your name?

Suicidal man: Greg.

Police: My name's Tom. Why are you out here Greg?

Greg: My wife left me. Took the kids, took the house. I have NOTHING now!

Police: You want a coat? It's cold out here Greg.

Greg: Okay... but throw it to me. Don't try anything! I'll jump!

Police: Tosses coat from a short distance and Greg catches it. "You hungry Greg? I have some lunch in the car."

Everything so far is merely a way to buy time so Greg doesn't kill himself. It's also a way to establish the officer as someone who cares about Greg, since Greg at this point is not thinking he is worth enough to even stay alive. I looked researched stuff on google, but didn't find much. Sooo... what is a plausible way an officer would handle this? I don't think my way is far off. I'm doing it for a story I want to write. It's scifi set in modern day Earth. As the officer attempts to stop the man from jumping off the bridge, an alien ship begins hovering high overhead. The officer knows about the ship, since it has been on the news all morning, but Greg doesn't, since he has been sitting on the bridge all morning. When the officer tells Greg, initially greg doesn't believe him, but when the ship starts emitting green rays which focus on Greg, and both of the police with him, even Greg realizes it's for real. Greg says, "Take me! Take me!" The green rays disappear from the officers, with only one ray on Greg. The officer has seen enough scifi that he thinks Greg is probably going to be teleported away. Not wanting to leave a bad impression of humanity by allowing a mentally unstable man to represent humanity, the officer says, "NO! Take me! Take me!" While waving his arms. The ship does take him, and Greg says, "What!? Even the aliens don't want me! That's it! I'm jumping." Even though Greg tries to jump the other officer remaining stops him by saying, "Wanna know one reason why you shouldn't?"

Greg: "And that is?"

Other officer: You're famous! You'll never have to work a day again in your life! You and me, we'll be on the news Greg!"

Greg admits the officer is right and comes across the railing to safety, upon which the officer handcuffs him.

Greg: What?! I was'nt hurting anyone.

Greg continues to complain as the Officer tells Greg his Miranda rights (you have the right to remain silent etc blah blah) and as he puts him in his patrol car the officer says, "Shut up! I just lost my partner. We wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for you." Then he slams door on him.

Granted, I know the officer remaining is not acting professional here... but he at least has reason to act like a jerk given what just happened.

 

[Overread]

If you can't find police methods look up general suicide negotiation tactics. I would think there'd be both reference books and some websites with information on this matter. Some of the self help groups might also have advice or information on how to deal with someone in such a situation.
The police will generally use similar methods provided that the police officer is trained in such. Thus your regular policeman might have some training or at least sufficient to slow things down and keep the person from jumping; but the actual negotiation might be conducted by a professional more highly trained in such dealings.

 

[Droflet]

Ralph is a cop. Hopefully he'll turn up and give you some tips. But, as a non cop, this sounds plausible to me. Build empathy.

 

[mosaix]

I actually drove past a potential suicide and someone trying to dissuade him on an overpass a couple of years ago. I posted about it here on the Chrons.

Changed Perceptions...

The thing that I remember most vividly was something that I didn't expect: he was terrified and hanging on for dear life.

 

[Boneman]

I think the officer would have to work a lot harder... if the guy is serious about killing himself, contemplating his own destruction, he 'd be wary of the cop trying to stop him, edge further away, shout at him to keep away, wouldn't take his jacket, (did he want to kill himself only when warm?) would continually warn the cop he was going to do it, whilst (presumably in this story) want to be convinced otherwise. This scenario is way to easy for the cop...

 

[J Riff]

If they start talking, they don't want to jump, but might if an amateur starts yakking at them, that's the theory, so a cop or passerby should wait for the trained 'expert', who will follow a script with no idea what might happen, and no responsibility if the person jumps because they accidentally say the wrong thing. Just like on TV witout the exciting music.
A bit casual, your scenario there, like the guy is waiting to tell someone his problems.

 

[ralphkern]

Standard negotiation model is:

Listen
Empathise
Rapport build
Influence
Behaviour change

You don't lie. That breaks down trust and even if you get the person down the first time, it makes the negotiators job ten times more difficult if it were to happen again.

You generally don't grab. More than one cop has gone with the jumper trying that. Also, at least one cop has ended up in the dock having been accused by family members of pushing the jumper. Not to say it's a no in all circumstances, but generally not. One of my best mates ended up hanging down the side of a building having done that.

The general rule of thumb for operational cops is just keep them chatting until the negotiator comes along. Some will talk, some won't. Some will come back just if you simply ask them, some won't.

You never give them anything without an exchange. (Ciggys are an obvious thing). Clues in the title - negotiation.

Jumper: "I need a smoke, give me a cigarette."

Cop: "sure, but I need you to do something for me first. Come back over the barrier" (then give them one... I've known someone give a whole packet before without exchange, and we have to wait for an hour while they chain smoke them before we can use that as a negotiation again)

It's a massive, massive field. And every job is totally different. Far more to it than this.

(Written on phone hence bullet pointing)

 

[Ihe]

Police: My name's Tom. Why are you out here Greg?

I wouldn't ask him the reasons as to why he's there. Having to answer that just brings it all back with yet more clarity and might remind him of why he wants to jump and reinforce his distorted justifications. Risky.

I would ignore what got him to this point and focus on the future. Talking about his suicidal reasons I think would end up turning into a downward spiral. There is a place and time to talk about them. On the ledge is not one of them IMO.

 

[jjabrams55]

Standard negotiation model is:

Listen
Empathise
Rapport build
Influence
Behaviour change

You don't lie. That breaks down trust and even if you get the person down the first time, it makes the negotiators job ten times more difficult if it were to happen again.

You generally don't grab. More than one cop has gone with the jumper trying that. Also, at least one cop has ended up in the dock having been accused by family members of pushing the jumper. Not to say it's a no in all circumstances, but generally not. One of my best mates ended up hanging down the side of a building having done that.

The general rule of thumb for operational cops is just keep them chatting until the negotiator comes along. Some will talk, some won't. Some will come back just if you simply ask them, some won't.

You never give them anything without an exchange. (Ciggys are an obvious thing). Clues in the title - negotiation.

Jumper: "I need a smoke, give me a cigarette."

Cop: "sure, but I need you to do something for me first. Come back over the barrier" (then give them one... I've known someone give a whole packet before without exchange, and we have to wait for an hour while they chain smoke them before we can use that as a negotiation again)

It's a massive, massive field. And every job is totally different. Far more to it than this.

(Written on phone hence bullet pointing)

Thank you and everyone else. Quite informative. My last bit of research is complete. Now I can begin writing.

 

[Old_Man_Steve2016]

This is how the police handle it in China.
Police officer saves the life of a suicidal woman by handcuffing himself to her and throwing away the key

This is how the fire department handles it in China.

 

[Ursa major]

I've moved this thread to General Writing Discussion from Critiques as the thread starter is requesting information, not a critique.

 

[VinceK]

Not sure that if someone really wanted to commit suicide the police officer would ever be involved. Therefore I suspect this is Greg's cry for help.