Tweet
Police vs. Suicide: A New Initiative in Yerevan
09.19.2014 17:07 epress.am
It has already been one week that police officers have been keeping
duty on Yerevan's highest bridges. Among their responsibilities is
preventing suicide attempts. The most well known bridges, in regards
to suicide, mostly follow the Hrazdan river; Hrazdan's big bridge,
famously known as Kievian (60 meters high), Davtashen's bridge (92
meters), and Victory Bridge (34 meters).
Anonymous police officers told journalists that they are discontent
with the Law Enforcement leadership's new initiative, with the hope
that they would be freed from it. "Even without this job, day and
night we're on the streets, but now we have no way to stay away from
the sun," protested the police officer with handcuffs and a club tied
to his belt.
According to him, the police leadership warned them that for every
unprevented suicide, they would be reprimanded, their salaries
lowered, and deprived them from future bonuses, "a few days ago on
another bridge, they started an investigation for a registered
incident and those on patrol are under threat of being strictly
reprimanded. Though, there's no reward for saving someone."
I said that "if there were rewards, you would present a few acts of
preventions at every shift."
"That's impossible. First of all, we won't let ourselves do that.
Second, they are monitoring us here and there are cameras all over the
city. They follow us even closer than they do ordinary citizens,"
answered the police officer.
Another police officer, who was also discontent with the leadership's
new spotlight on suicide, interfered in the conversation, he claimed,
"they said that last week the president was attending a wedding which
was to take place in the Hrazdan canyon's Florence restaurant. Someone
jumped off the bridge and blocked his entourage's path. They were
forced to change their route and from that moment, they decided to
send patrol units to all bridges. As if everything was alright
before."
He also noted, that until the present moment they haven't been told
what criteria they should look for in potential suicide victims, "if
someone wants to commit suicide, no one could prevent the person. You
don't need to find that person on a bridge. I can't place a camera in
everyone's head. What should I do, run after every person who seems
weird? Half the city walks with gloomy mug faces; should I not let
them walk across the bridge? Look, you look gloomy too! Generally, you
don't even look like a journalist."
Epress.am spoke to Police public relations department representative
Armen Malkhasyan, who noted that they don't have a specific service
for suicide prevention. According to Malkhasyan, the patrol units have
routes and police officers may appear on the bridge during the day.
Yuri M.
http://www.epress.am/en/2014/09/19/police-vs-suicide-a-new-initiative-in-yerevan.html
09.19.2014 17:07 epress.am
It has already been one week that police officers have been keeping
duty on Yerevan's highest bridges. Among their responsibilities is
preventing suicide attempts. The most well known bridges, in regards
to suicide, mostly follow the Hrazdan river; Hrazdan's big bridge,
famously known as Kievian (60 meters high), Davtashen's bridge (92
meters), and Victory Bridge (34 meters).
Anonymous police officers told journalists that they are discontent
with the Law Enforcement leadership's new initiative, with the hope
that they would be freed from it. "Even without this job, day and
night we're on the streets, but now we have no way to stay away from
the sun," protested the police officer with handcuffs and a club tied
to his belt.
According to him, the police leadership warned them that for every
unprevented suicide, they would be reprimanded, their salaries
lowered, and deprived them from future bonuses, "a few days ago on
another bridge, they started an investigation for a registered
incident and those on patrol are under threat of being strictly
reprimanded. Though, there's no reward for saving someone."
I said that "if there were rewards, you would present a few acts of
preventions at every shift."
"That's impossible. First of all, we won't let ourselves do that.
Second, they are monitoring us here and there are cameras all over the
city. They follow us even closer than they do ordinary citizens,"
answered the police officer.
Another police officer, who was also discontent with the leadership's
new spotlight on suicide, interfered in the conversation, he claimed,
"they said that last week the president was attending a wedding which
was to take place in the Hrazdan canyon's Florence restaurant. Someone
jumped off the bridge and blocked his entourage's path. They were
forced to change their route and from that moment, they decided to
send patrol units to all bridges. As if everything was alright
before."
He also noted, that until the present moment they haven't been told
what criteria they should look for in potential suicide victims, "if
someone wants to commit suicide, no one could prevent the person. You
don't need to find that person on a bridge. I can't place a camera in
everyone's head. What should I do, run after every person who seems
weird? Half the city walks with gloomy mug faces; should I not let
them walk across the bridge? Look, you look gloomy too! Generally, you
don't even look like a journalist."
Epress.am spoke to Police public relations department representative
Armen Malkhasyan, who noted that they don't have a specific service
for suicide prevention. According to Malkhasyan, the patrol units have
routes and police officers may appear on the bridge during the day.
Yuri M.
http://www.epress.am/en/2014/09/19/police-vs-suicide-a-new-initiative-in-yerevan.html