Police are kinds of social workers, crime and threats to life are intimately social matters. I think in most countries police would respond to suicide warnings.

Police are kinds of social workers, crime and threats to life are intimately social matters. I think in most countries police would respond to suicide warnings. Police spend most of their time dealing with mentally ill and stressed people who they more often just talk to than arrest. Carrying out welfare checks on elderly people is exactly what they should be doing in Japan, besides preparing for the next earthquake.