POLICE NOT READY TO DEAL WITH SUICIDAL PEOPLE

For 11 people in Cape Girardeau, last month seemed like a good time to die.

Police responded to 11 attempted suicides in December, Sgt. Carl Kinnison said, which represents one of the highest number of attempts in recent years.

In all of 1999, 58 people in Cape Girardeau tried to take their own lives with pills, knives or something else, but only one succeeded.

In 2000, four have already tried to kill themselves.

Many times, people who make their careers responding to emergencies have never been trained to handle someone planning to kill himself, said Debi Oliver, director of Survivors of Suicide in Southeast Missouri, which is part of the American Association of Suicidology in Washington, D.C.

Of the 480 minimum hours required to graduate from a Missouri law enforcement academy, four are dedicated to stress management and dealing with death.

"They get minimal training, unless they seek it somewhere else," said Oliver, who is a reserve police officer for Cape Girardeau and a law enforcement instructor here and in St. Louis.

The first person to deal with a suicide threat is usually a 911 dispatcher. The Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Department provides training on and off the job for dispatchers, said Capt. Ruth Ann Dickerson. For those with less experience, a flip-chart guide leads them through questions to ask a suicidal caller.

Since the installation of a new system to handle 911 calls last month, dispatchers now have a one-touch button that links them with a regional suicide hotline, Dickerson said. But calls are not just passed along to a hotline counselor. The dispatcher tries to find out details such as what kind of suicide is taking place and what has already happened.

A police officer's role is limited in handling suicide attempts, Kinnison said. The time and resources don't exist for counseling when police respond to a call, he said.

"We secure the location and call for medical attention," Kinnison said. "That's basically all police can do."

Until other assistance becomes available, the officer's objective should be to build communication and establish a relationship with the person who wants to commit suicide, Kinnison said.

Patrolman Henry Prystalski responded to one suicide attempt in December involving a 17-year-old boy. It was not the first suicide he has handled.

After arriving on the scene and learning from a relative that the boy planned to hang himself, Prystalski went to where the boy was located. After determining whether it was safe to enter the room, he found the boy already unconscious.

"I attempted to get his breathing started and waited for the paramedics," Prystalski said.

The role of paramedics is generally limited to providing medical care if someone has already injured himself, said Dan White, Cape Girardeau fire chief. Sometimes, when a paramedic is the first on the scene, it is necessary to talk with the suicidal person, he said.

One of the most important aspects is to keep someone talking, Oliver said. She communicates the ideas that it is normal to feel emotionally hurt or be in a bad circumstance, and that she is there for the individual.

"I try and make it client-centered," she said.

In her courses for law enforcement training, Oliver says that it's important to ask whether the person is thinking of killing himself. Many who are untrained are uncomfortable with asking the question, she said.

"Talking to them and asking them these questions doesn't put suicide in their minds," Oliver said.

The next step is to find out if the person has a plan, such as taking a certain gun to a specific place. That helps determine how lethal the situation is, she said.

If a specific plan exists, law enforcement officers should take the person to their department. A friend or relative should get the individual to a hospital, Oliver said.

"You never leave the person alone," she said.

At Southeast Missouri Hospital, a crisis worker will be brought in to assess whether a person who attempted suicide should be hospitalized.

Since 1991, Oliver has been regional coordinator for the SEMO Critical Incident Stress Management Network, providing a resource to emergency personnel and law enforcement. The network covers 25 Southeast Missouri counties with trained counselors, she said. The counselors include police, firefighters, doctors, ministers.

Counselors from the network aren't involved in every suicide call, Oliver said. Some are not aware of the network, and often officers believe they have to act on the situation immediately, she said.

Some in law enforcement are uncomfortable with the idea of learning counseling techniques, she said.

"Police are action-oriented people," Oliver said. "Some of them are scared off by this touchy-feely stuff."

It helps that she is a reserve police officer.

"When they see me in uniform, with a badge and a gun, it helps," Oliver said. "It's easier to take a step toward a peer."

Suicide intervention education of police and firefighters on a large scale is slow moving. The 1998 edition of a textbook for first responders, those trained to handle an emergency when they are alone at the scene, is the first to teach critical stress management, Oliver said.

Last year she began working on a pilot program with the Missouri Highway Patrol for stress management training.

"It has taken a long time to gain credibility," she said.