"How Hard Was It?" Police Asked... A Man in His 20s Standing on a Railing Gets Emotional

Crisis Negotiation Specialist Attempts Dialogue and Persuasion
"It's a Difficult Situation, Let's Talk and Think Together"
Seocho Police Station Operates 'Local Police Crisis Negotiation Specialist' System

A man in his 20s who attempted to jump from Banpo Bridge in Seoul was rescued by the police. Photo by Seocho Police Station

A man in his 20s who had climbed onto the railing of Banpo Bridge in Seoul was safely rescued after police persuasion.

According to the Seocho Police Station in Seoul on the 18th, a report was received around 8:50 p.m. on the 16th stating, "A friend drank a lot and seems to have gone alone to the Han River." The police tracked the location of the man, Mr. A's mobile phone and, after searching, found him on a narrow steel railing above the 45th pier on the southern end of Banpo Bridge.

The police immediately requested the fire department to set up an air mattress and deployed two crisis negotiation specialists from the Banpo Police Substation Patrol Team 2. These officers are specialized in responding to suicide attempts, and after clearly identifying themselves and reassuring Mr. A, they slowly approached him.

The two officers tried to comfort Mr. A by saying things like, "It must have been hard to come up here," and "If you have any difficulties, let's talk and think about them together." Then, saying, "We have come to safely bring you down. I will gently hold your hand," they held Mr. A’s hand and patted his shoulder while continuing the conversation. The officers carefully held each of his hands and moved him to the top of Banpo Bridge, successfully rescuing him within 20 minutes of deployment.

A police official stated, "(Mr. A) replied, 'I was scared to be alone, but I’m thankful you came like this,'" and added, "While riding in the patrol car to the police substation, he openly shared in detail the difficulties he had been facing." One of the officers on site said, "The conversation techniques learned during specialized training naturally came to me and I was able to use them," and added, "This rescue incident gave me confidence in suicide rescue work. I support the operation of this system in frontline local police."

Since September, the Seocho Police Station has been operating a 'Local Police Crisis Negotiator' system specialized for suicide attempters. Accordingly, 56 officers have been selected from local police patrol teams at substation and police boxes, rather than the police station, and deployed to suicide attempt rescue scenes. The police explained, "Negotiators from the main station take an average of about 20 minutes to arrive on scene, risking missing the golden time, and since they are from teams responsible for criminal investigations, motivation was low," adding, "The average arrival time of Seocho local police is about 3 minutes, which aligns with the local police’s primary duty of suicide rescue and provides motivation."

※ If you have difficult-to-talk-about worries such as depression, or if you have family or acquaintances experiencing such difficulties, you can receive 24-hour expert counseling through the Suicide Prevention Hotline ☎109 or the Suicide Prevention SNS Counseling “Madeullan.”