Golden Gate Bridge is adding five new officers in hopes of preventing more suicidal individuals from jumping off the structure.
Officers stopped “an average of 52 people a year” from jumping off the bridge between 2000-2005 and an average of 73 a year “between 2006 and 2010.” The number of suicide attempts stopped per year–on average–increased significantly 2011-2015 and law enforcement hopes the presence of more officers will raise the number of successful interventions even higher.
Marinij.com quoted Captain Lisa Locati saying, “This increase in interventions is directly related to our presence on the sidewalk.” And she believes more officers on the sidewalk will necessarily lead to more interventions, which means more lives saved.
Locati said, “The officers want to be on the sidewalk detail. They are the front line in these situations.”
In June 2014 Golden Gate’s bridge board voted to “build a suicide barrier” to be located below the bridge. The “barrier plan calls for a net extending 20 feet below and 20 feet from the side of the span, although it will have to be modified in certain areas because of surrounding terrain.” The net “will be made of stainless steel, marine-grade cable” and will be painted gray to blend in with the water.
Financial setbacks delayed construction of the suicide barrier and the bridge board to now seeking a new “funding plan” for the project.
AWR Hawkins is the Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News and political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com.
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