7 ms·

Never call the police to handle a psychological traumatic episode. Especially to prevent a suicide. They are not trained to handle it at all.

czbond 10y ago
Then whom, specifically?
pragmatic 10y ago
I don't know what else to do. I don't know this guy. I don't know anyone who knows this guy. I live in another country. What would be the right thing to do here?
OriginalPenguin 10y ago
If it's a friend or family member and you feel capable of handling it yourself, and are nearby this might be good advice. But regarding a stranger thousands of miles away? When every second counts? The police seem like the best option.
grzm 10y ago
That's quite a sweeping generalization. Even if true, they may know who is better able to handle the situation.
464192002d7fe1c 10y ago
While I understand your concern. You're wrong on a number of fronts. Firstly, as others have mentioned, you don't really have better options besides (perhaps?) trying to find/call relatives. If you call EMTs they won't report without police (for good reason), if you call a local hospital (of any kind) they will just tell you to call the police. Secondly, police absolutely do get training to handle mental health issues and get training to specifically handle this situation. (http://www.nami.org/Law-Enforcement-and-Mental-Health/What-Is-CIT http://www.nami.org/Law-Enforcement-and-Mental-Health/What-I...) Thirdly, this is Canada. While I'm sure the level of CIT training penetration in the USA is not ideal, I would imagine that Canadian police are far better and will show up with Canadian bacon and maple syrup and some tim hortons coffee and make it all better.
- hackuser 10y ago
  > If you call EMTs they won't report without police (for good reason), if you call a local hospital (of any kind) they will just tell you to call the police. I wouldn't assume that's true everywhere.
nathannecro 10y ago
With great certainty, I can say that most all police and first responders in the US and Canada have been trained on how to handle a suicide. Whether or not they recall and follow through on their training, that is another story. Please, if you think a friend or family member is on the verge of suicide, do seek the assistance of the police. They considered to be on the edge of suicide if the answer to the questions below are "yes". 1. Do you have thoughts about killing yourself? 2. Do you have a plan to kill yourself? 3. Do you have a means to kill yourself? (Purchasing a knife or gun for example) If the answer to all three questions are in the affirmative (or even if it's one or two out of three), seek help. Do not leave them alone unless your safety is threatened. Call a suicide prevention line, call the local authorities, call a family member; do all three.
- hackuser 10y ago
  > With great certainty, I can say that most all police and first responders in the US and Canada have been trained on how to handle a suicide. How do you know this?
  - nathannecro 10y ago
    I am a nationally registered paramedic and EMT in the United States. I have a reasonable understanding of the rules and training in both the US and in Canada (because I've worked with many Canadians). While I haven't had the (mis)fortune of working in a rig full time due to my other work, I have spent quite a bit of time working as a medic in large cities (San Francisco), abroad in other countries (Cambodia and Vietnam), and in the ED. This is a fairly basic subject for most first responders. I want to add to my first post: The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is: 1-800-273-8255 24/7, your call will be answered. Also, if you head to their website, you can chat via text with them if you don't feel like talking: http://chat.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/GetHelp/LifelineChat.aspx http://chat.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/GetHelp/LifelineCh... On that website, there are some great resources.
Beggars 10y ago
Sorry to call it like I see it, but your comment is so wrong on every possible level. There is nobody else to call when someone is telling the world they're going to commit suicide, where is your compassion? I don't even know this guy, never read his blog and I live in another country, but reading that post and the "love" one he posted with photos of his children, that hits me right in the chest. I feel compelled to try and do something. Police aren't just there for tending to crimes, they are there to serve and protect the community and in this case, protect someone in the community from themselves who is clearly suffering from immense mental stress and needs help. The way society deals with people who clearly are suffering from mental illness needs to change. There are so many people out there just like him working in tech and non-tech alike feeling the same, sadly many don't get heard or the help they need. Remember Aaron Swartz? It's easy for people to say, "he should tell someone, he should tell his wife" when they've never experienced mental illness before. It's easy to be uncompassionate when you're lucky to be a normal functioning human being.
- Trundle 10y ago
  Questioning a persons compassion because they hold a different opinion than you is low. There's no reason to believe they don't care. Their post doesn't say "Don't call the police, it's not worth the taxpayers dollar."
- hackuser 10y ago
  There are many stories, I don't know how representative they are (certainly it's rare), of police shooting or otherwise assaulting mentally ill people they were called to help. I'm not agreeing with the GP, but I wouldn't jump to any conclusions either way.
oliwarner 10y ago
And the nominees for most harmful comment on HN are... Seriously though, if even one person avoids calling trained professionals off the back of this, you might have cost somebody their life.

czbond 10y ago

Then whom, specifically?

pragmatic 10y ago

I don't know what else to do. I don't know this guy. I don't know anyone who knows this guy. I live in another country. What would be the right thing to do here?

OriginalPenguin 10y ago

If it's a friend or family member and you feel capable of handling it yourself, and are nearby this might be good advice. But regarding a stranger thousands of miles away? When every second counts? The police seem like the best option.

grzm 10y ago

That's quite a sweeping generalization. Even if true, they may know who is better able to handle the situation.

464192002d7fe1c 10y ago

While I understand your concern. You're wrong on a number of fronts. Firstly, as others have mentioned, you don't really have better options besides (perhaps?) trying to find/call relatives. If you call EMTs they won't report without police (for good reason), if you call a local hospital (of any kind) they will just tell you to call the police. Secondly, police absolutely do get training to handle mental health issues and get training to specifically handle this situation. (http://www.nami.org/Law-Enforcement-and-Mental-Health/What-Is-CIT http://www.nami.org/Law-Enforcement-and-Mental-Health/What-I...) Thirdly, this is Canada. While I'm sure the level of CIT training penetration in the USA is not ideal, I would imagine that Canadian police are far better and will show up with Canadian bacon and maple syrup and some tim hortons coffee and make it all better.

hackuser 10y ago
> If you call EMTs they won't report without police (for good reason), if you call a local hospital (of any kind) they will just tell you to call the police. I wouldn't assume that's true everywhere.

nathannecro 10y ago

With great certainty, I can say that most all police and first responders in the US and Canada have been trained on how to handle a suicide. Whether or not they recall and follow through on their training, that is another story. Please, if you think a friend or family member is on the verge of suicide, do seek the assistance of the police. They considered to be on the edge of suicide if the answer to the questions below are "yes". 1. Do you have thoughts about killing yourself? 2. Do you have a plan to kill yourself? 3. Do you have a means to kill yourself? (Purchasing a knife or gun for example) If the answer to all three questions are in the affirmative (or even if it's one or two out of three), seek help. Do not leave them alone unless your safety is threatened. Call a suicide prevention line, call the local authorities, call a family member; do all three.

hackuser 10y ago
> With great certainty, I can say that most all police and first responders in the US and Canada have been trained on how to handle a suicide. How do you know this?
- nathannecro 10y ago
  I am a nationally registered paramedic and EMT in the United States. I have a reasonable understanding of the rules and training in both the US and in Canada (because I've worked with many Canadians). While I haven't had the (mis)fortune of working in a rig full time due to my other work, I have spent quite a bit of time working as a medic in large cities (San Francisco), abroad in other countries (Cambodia and Vietnam), and in the ED. This is a fairly basic subject for most first responders. I want to add to my first post: The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is: 1-800-273-8255 24/7, your call will be answered. Also, if you head to their website, you can chat via text with them if you don't feel like talking: http://chat.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/GetHelp/LifelineChat.aspx http://chat.suicidepreventionlifeline.org/GetHelp/LifelineCh... On that website, there are some great resources.

Beggars 10y ago

Sorry to call it like I see it, but your comment is so wrong on every possible level. There is nobody else to call when someone is telling the world they're going to commit suicide, where is your compassion? I don't even know this guy, never read his blog and I live in another country, but reading that post and the "love" one he posted with photos of his children, that hits me right in the chest. I feel compelled to try and do something. Police aren't just there for tending to crimes, they are there to serve and protect the community and in this case, protect someone in the community from themselves who is clearly suffering from immense mental stress and needs help. The way society deals with people who clearly are suffering from mental illness needs to change. There are so many people out there just like him working in tech and non-tech alike feeling the same, sadly many don't get heard or the help they need. Remember Aaron Swartz? It's easy for people to say, "he should tell someone, he should tell his wife" when they've never experienced mental illness before. It's easy to be uncompassionate when you're lucky to be a normal functioning human being.

Trundle 10y ago
Questioning a persons compassion because they hold a different opinion than you is low. There's no reason to believe they don't care. Their post doesn't say "Don't call the police, it's not worth the taxpayers dollar."
hackuser 10y ago
There are many stories, I don't know how representative they are (certainly it's rare), of police shooting or otherwise assaulting mentally ill people they were called to help. I'm not agreeing with the GP, but I wouldn't jump to any conclusions either way.

oliwarner 10y ago

And the nominees for most harmful comment on HN are... Seriously though, if even one person avoids calling trained professionals off the back of this, you might have cost somebody their life.