Discussion An expert police officer in crisis situations (suicide, kidnapping, hostage) gave people to ask him about everything - here's what they asked him

[Yomyom]

13 questions that I found very informative, I used Google translate, so I hope you'll understand it clearly


1) What is the most significant case in your life as a unit officer?

Hello Hard question ... Every event I attended there was a lot of excitement. After all, it is human life and every word I say to a person in front of me may be fatal .. And your question, in one of the first events I attended, was threatening to jump from his sixth-floor balcony of his residence. I talked to him from the roof of the building and didn't know if he was listening to me and if my efforts were bearing fruit. After a while that seemed to last forever, he suddenly said "I'm going to open the door." I went downstairs, met a huge muscular man (!), Went into the apartment with him, put his hand on his shoulders, and as we sat down on the couch he started to cry. From this event, I learned that each of us, even the greatest and most powerful, can be a breaking point. It was (and still is) a great privilege for me to be there for him and for anyone who would need our help in the future.


2) Did you say at the beginning of the video that you were preparing for a master's degree in psychology, can tell what degree it is? To understand the pre-training you will be leading there

Hello. I have completed my Masters in Cognitive Psychology, but the unit consists of police, volunteers and academics from a variety of fields (operations, intelligence, training, technology and more) and not necessarily only from the psychological background. Previously, psychology, organizational and social psychology staff served in the unit. Initial training in the field certainly contributed, but was not the main consideration for recruitment and acceptance for the unit.



3) What personal characteristics should a person have in your position?

Very good question. In our experience, not everyone is capable of negotiating in crisis situations. One of the important qualities we "look for" in our candidates is the flexibility of thinking. Because we almost never have any prior knowledge of the person with whom we are going to negotiate (and therefore cannot prepare Accordingly) the negotiator is required to adapt (flex) himself to the person in front of him and the complex situation he is exposed to. Other important features are of course patience, voracity, longitude, ability to express empathy and emotion and of course a natural ability to "connect" to people.



4) Question ..
‏ Have you failed in such a task .. What were the results? And did you examine the case
‏afterwards .. and the conclusions?
‏
Hello. To my delight, our success rates at such events are very high (tap to tap without the evil eye). Unfortunately, there are also (few) events that end tragically and bring with them much pain and suffering, especially to families but also to friends, colleagues, acquaintances and ... us members of the negotiating unit. After each event, both those that end positively and those that end tragically, we conduct research and draw conclusions to learn what to preserve and what to improve next.



5) Hey maybe a bit cruel question but you still said you can ask everything. And you can choose from 2 questions.
- Let's hope not but did you get involved in the event when between you and the person involved in the event have a personal acquaintance?
- And a second question
‏ After the events, did you get to meet those people after a while and hear from them what has happened since?
‏ Thanks and keep making a soldier !!!!

Hello. For your first question, I did not personally come to mind, but the principle we teach is that it is better to be as objective and as emotionally less involved in such events, since it is human life. Therefore, if the negotiator has prior knowledge of the negotiator, he should disqualify himself from interfering in the event. For your second question, we do indeed get to meet people who have helped them in their difficult times, and to our delight, their stories are positive and joyful, and we are grateful for the opportunity we have shared to help these people continue their lives and overcome difficulties.



6) That a person is trying to commit suicide and is negotiating with him, what is the first thing you tell them when they ask you "why not do it?" - "Why not commit suicide?"
‏ What do you tell them?
Did you identify with some of the stories you heard from the people who threatened to commit suicide?
‏
Hello. In almost every situation we manage to find a reason (and usually a few reasons) why you should stay alive and not finish it. The reasons vary from person to person: Some will understand the pain and pain that will inflict on their families and loved ones if they go prematurely and change their minds, there are those who still work It is important to them, or those who want to achieve goals that have not yet been fulfilled in their lives. For identification, we direct our people to show empathy, which in simple terms is like "getting into the shoes of the person in front of you without walking in them." So the identification element certainly exists, and is a matter of personal and emotional choice. That the negotiator chooses to do in the negotiation process





7) How are the negotiations going on? How do you convince people not to take the actions (suicide, bank Rob, etc.) sent to prevent them from doing so?

Hello. In large, there are no "magic words" that we teach our people to say and then when they are told everything will work out. Negotiation is a process that takes time, thought, effort and effort. There are techniques of influence and persuasion that we teach our people, but there is no one that always brings an end to the crisis. It's always a combination of some techniques and directions. Borrowing from the world of boxing - there is no "knockout," but always a point victory. A key element of the negotiation strategy is the use of listening basics (you will be surprised how critical it is), combined with expressing empathy towards the other, avoiding judgment and criticism, and establishing rapport and trust between the parties. Not everyone is fit to be a negotiator, but it is important that someone Negotiations can easily "connect" with people




8) Does the Corona crisis affect the amount of events?
‏
Hello. I have responded to a similar question, but it is an important question and I will answer again: Beyond my position in the negotiation unit, I also serve as the police representative on the National Council for Loss Prevention. Members of the Board are experts in preventing suicide from a variety of factors, including the Unit for the Prevention of Loss in the Ministry of Health, other professionals in the ministries of health, welfare, education, mental support associations such as the attorney general, the IDF, the prison service, the HMOs and more. Asked the Knesset about a week ago about the threat of suicide in light of the Corona Question: Council members estimate that the number of suicides will not rise in the near future, but there is concern that if an economic crisis following the epidemic could rise, it is very important to recognize and refer distressed people to the emergency number of the association. Eran 1201 or the Ceder website (network assistance and listening). The council raised a number of points Other important fields





9) Did you ever catch someone right when he tried to jump?
‏
Hello. I was glad I never needed my hands to save someone from suicide. Well, maybe it is, but only when the danger passed and we both shook hands and hugged each other (these events culminate in unparalleled excitement, since this is human life). The guiding principle is to use head, speech, persuasion, and not hands.



10) Divorced who wants to commit suicide as a result of his parents' alienation and persecution of the authorities, according to him. (As happened recently)
‏ Why would he agree and be open to getting help from the system that brought him to an end ??

Hello. The members of the negotiation unit are working to save lives. They will do everything to help anyone in such a crisis situation. This is the crux of the job. How to convince him, Well, this is what we teach in a special course with us, where special emphasis is placed on dealing with those who find it difficult to trust the "system" as you mentioned.




11) Do you use the mirroring tool in front of the threatening person?
‏
Hello, we use a similar tool for the mirroring technique - called "emotion labeling". Not exactly the same, but definitely effective.



12) What is not to say to someone who threatens to commit suicide?
‏
Great question! Perhaps the most important principle in such situations is to avoid judgment and criticism of that person. Try to put the criticism aside, and show genuine empathy for him. Another important principle is to refrain from interrupting his speech, and of course not to enter into arguments or conflicts with him. They will not lead anywhere positive.


13) Hi, is there a way to distinguish a person who is "just" threatening to commit suicide or someone who really means it?
‏
Hello. For us, every threat of suicide is taken at the height of seriousness. For example, some people wrote in a post on the Internet "I deserve to die", which is supposedly a sentence that you and I can write / say / feel on any given day. But there were times when even these people who wrote "I deserve to die" - committed an actual suicide act. We, as the police, have no discretion whatsoever in this matter and will deal with any threat, since the police, among other things, believe in the safety of our minds. However, at each event we carry out a process called risk assessment, which is measured by certain criteria, and is also based on the vast knowledge and experience we have accumulated over the years. The risk assessment will guide us during the negotiation process, but we will always prepare for every possible scenario

 

[KiraLittleOwl]

Interesting, I didn't know that special job exist

 

[Yomyom]

Another article- different questions

"A man is standing on a building and wants to jump. I need to get him off."

What do you say to a man who threatens suicide, and how do you deal with an armed robber who holds a hostage? Conversation with Ofer Shahar, commander of the police negotiation unit


Let's start with some general background. What does this mean, in fact, the police negotiating unit?

Our unit was established in the late 1970s, following a global wave of hostage holding and hostile terrorist activity - Munich, Maalot, etc. What pushed for its establishment were also criminal events. In New York, there were many bank robbery cases, which entangled and included hostages. A psychologist who was a NYPD police officer realized that the contacts with the kidnappers needed to be systematically managed - he noticed that when talking to them, most of the incident did not deteriorate into violence and use of weapons. That remains our slogan to this day - as long as talking, not shooting. As long as you talk, don't commit suicide.

You yourself are not a psychologist. Who are the people actually serving in the unit? What is their professional profile?

We have a permanent core of about ten officers and officers - psychology professionals, veteran police investigators and technology experts. They work at it, a "full time negotiator" in English, and in Hebrew the confusing term is "negotiating speaker". In addition, we have an array of 250 police officers, police officers and volunteers, who have been identified by us for their interpersonal communication skills, and are undergoing training. If a crisis occurs in a remote place that we cannot reach quickly, they will be the first responders in the ring. Our goal is to resolve conflicts peacefully. We always strive to lead to the resolution of the crisis without arrest, without physical confrontation, without hurting the person with whom we are carrying and giving. Or himself.

That means he will end his life. I understand that this is the critical mass of events you deal with - people who threaten to end their lives.

This is the main activity of routine - the painful issue of suicide. These are more than 500 documented suicide events per year in Israel. And these are just the numbers we know.


You mean suicide or suicide attempts?

Suicides. In attempts at loss the numbers are much larger, and they only rise from year to year. There are also events involving hostages. We also deal with kidnapping events - this happens in certain sectors where someone is kidnapping this kind of bargaining chip. Kidnapping someone to close a deal. Volunteers with us in the unit are many scholars in the academy - sociologists, psychologists, religious scholars and cultures. We all work together and research knowledge is used to perfect our ability and insights. We also advise similar units in the world. For example, the Swiss Police negotiation unit is in close contact with us. They have a unique problem - many Swiss citizens go out to volunteer in the world, come to dangerous countries in Africa and get kidnapped. The culture there is not enough for them - especially when it comes to Muslim countries. We try to help them with building a profile, understanding the background, what can help you when talking to a kidnapper.

A man threatening suicide - how does this event start to unfold? What happens when you get to the ring?

The incident begins as a police incident for everything - a message is received about a man standing on the roof of a building, say, and police officers who received it come out. In the first stage, they will manage the crisis. All police officers were given basic coping tools for people in need. What to tell them.

What do they say?

Don't say it'll be okay. A man who wants to jump out of a building - nothing wrong with him. Don't guarantee anything. Let's say the same person says "If you give me a million shekels to cover my debt in the bank, I go down." He must not say "good". It will only make it worse. Next, more policemen, those who have been trained by us - arrive at the scene to contain the situation, understand it, and strive for behavioral change. Slowly.

How It Works? How do you convince a man who has nothing to lose - who has nothing to lose?

Think you're getting into a dark tunnel. As you move away from the doorway, the darkness becomes heavier, and at some point, even when you look back, you will not see any bright spot, because you are already deep inside the tunnel. This is how he feels. Everything is lost and it is in the dark. I want to show him that there is light, even at the other end of the tunnel. We will walk together towards this light. And we will do it slowly, and in small steps. We will not jump directly there. First you have to build trust.

How do you address it? Are you introducing yourself?

I introduce myself by name, and my first goal is to hear the name of the person in front of me. When I remember his name and use it during the conversation, I convey to him that it is important to me. Even if he gives me a fictitious name - I'll respect that. If he wants me to call him Captain Nemo - I'll call him Captain Nemo.

Where are you, physically? Do you see the person you are talking to? Does he see you?

If it's standing on a balcony or on a roof - we'll get as close as possible. I'll get on the roof, stand on a balcony - I want him to see me, hear me, feel that I've come to help him and that I'm there for him. I want to see him. To see his body language. There are a lot of nuances that I listen to. Sometimes family members call us and announce that a family member is threatening to end his life, and then we will negotiate over the phone. We also negotiate online. Especially in front of teenagers. It is extremely challenging. You have no idea who you really talk to, your toolbox is limited to nonexistent. You don't know if the person talking to you is really a girl. If the picture where, suppose you see it cut itself, is a real picture.

What do you know when you get to the ring? You know what happened to that person? You know what the trigger is?

We understand that there is a background, that in the first stage we have no idea what it is, and that there is a trigger, which should also be found. What drove this person, in this timing, to this event. A person in financial distress is experiencing ongoing difficulties, but if the bank blocked his account this morning, that's the trigger. So first, we will try to address the initial trigger. The conversation will be on the lines of - Is it worth losing life because of a bank account? I will try to give this person a clear message - there is life. Some people love him. there are children. There are friends. There is always something important, for him, worth living. When we understand what's going on in more depth - we can try to access that as well. It is important to clarify - we do not treat. I am married to a clinical psychologist. She takes a problem and breaks it down to her basic causes, until early childhood. I have no time. A man stands on a building and wants to jump. I need to take it away.

And while you're talking to him, work is being done to collect additional materials. Understand what's going on.

When I arrive at the event, a desk opens. The intelligence desk provides me with information relevant to the event. Suppose a man barricades himself in the bedroom of his apartment. There is tactical intelligence - on what floor, what type of door, etc. It's not interesting to me. It is far more interesting to me if this person has eaten recently, because a hungry person behaves differently in extreme situations. I need intelligence to help me connect with it. We had a teenager who got on a cellphone and wanted to end his life. It turned out, from intelligence we gathered, that he is very connected to the world of football, he is a certain team fan and a certain character. Based on this information, we built the conversation. We talked about the team and the players and how it connects with them, and how fun it is to win, and how you feel when you lose - True, there is disappointment, but not suicide because of a loss, because tomorrow there is another game, where we might win, and if we had a bad year, it could still be next year Let's take a championship. At one point the speaker who was running the event asked this boy what he thought the team captain would say if he was here now, how hard and sad it was for him to see his fan, who is so important to him, in this situation. Slowly we were able to move it to where we wanted and I was glad it went down well.

It is of great importance not only what one chooses to say, but the things to be careful not to say. You might explain it a bit.

In our terminology it is called anchors and mines. If I want to like you, and I know you like chocolate cakes, I'll talk to you about chocolate and recipes. But if an hour ago you were fined for a phone call while driving, and nervous about the cop - it would be foolish of me to tell you the cop is right, or start telling you how dangerous it is to talk on the phone while driving.


Are there any more concrete examples?

We had a case of a man who intended to go abroad with friends and discovered, at the airport, against him a delay of departure from the country, against the background of his conflict with his wife. He returned home, barricaded himself there with weapons, and threatened to shoot people around him. It's a very complex event. In such a situation, you have to be very careful, very at ease, to provide this person with a stable emotional platform. You must not get carried away with it. If he curses the court and the judges, you cannot tell him "You are right, they are scoundrels."

at all? Never? Not white lies either?

Never. it is forbidden to lie. In the case of that person, I noticed that he often raised the matter of his relationship with his parents in our conversation. At one point the parents also came to the scene, and one of the police officers who worked with me told me "Listen, his mom says if she talks to him, he'll be convinced immediately." My gut feeling was that the mother should not be brought in because something in his conversation with him, in the way he repeatedly mentioned his parents, lit a red light for me. In the end, the conflict with his wife turned out to be related to his parents' involvement in his life, which was an argument over property, and he was trapped between his wife and his parents. This event ended peacefully, but when we analyzed it, in retrospect, we realized that the mother in this situation was a mine. That if she did enter the arena, she would probably be decisive.

Let's talk for a moment about what is called earning time. Many times your dialogue with the distressed person aims to earn more time.

I don't like that term very much - make time. Time is a relative matter. If a man is fortified in his home, he has no weapons, he does not threaten anyone, and his mental state is very difficult - I will take the time, as needed, to calm him down. But if it stands on a bridge in Ayalon and blocks traffic to a semi-state, then time is a completely different element. We once had a kidnapping event, we started talking to someone who introduced himself as a kidnapper. At some point he said something like "No problem, so the kidnapper will die from diabetes." Suddenly the whole dimension of time took on a completely different meaning - we realized that if the abductor did not receive his medicine things would get very complicated.

I read an interview with a person who locates and recruits speakers for the NYPD negotiation unit. He said something interesting there - that he was looking for people who had suffered severe trauma, loss, a formative event that changed their course of life. His premise is that it makes it easier for them to connect with people in need.

Is this really a critical criterion for effectively resolving crises? I have no definite answer. Of course, if I experienced this distress it could be a particular benefit, but on the other hand we also heard from speakers who had to deal with situations that were indeed related to their personal world and experience, and they paid a price for it. Listen, we see simple things. It's not a laugh. These situations confront you with difficult things. With your inner and emotional world.

What about sharing - one of the fastest ways to gain trust? Do you share from your world?

certainly. For example, we had an event where I talked to a soldier who was in dire straits. As I listened to him and listened to him, I realized exactly why it was so hard for him. He had a terrible relationship with his commander. I understood his heart. We have all been in the military and experienced difficulties. I told him that when I talk to him, I think of my son who is also in the military, and I think of the difficulties he is experiencing. I let him understand that he was at least as important to me as my son.

You said before - we're not lying. Which is really important, because the temptation - in the name of the situation, in the time of pressure, in the fear of escalating the situation - may still be trying to secure something. Solve it this way. Or even say something like - I understand you, it happened to me.

No lying, and a man who lies will be rejected. Sharp and smooth. There is no argument about this rule. Furthermore, people who are in mental strain are an amazing polygraph. They immediately detect a lie. The more relaxed you are, I can tell you stories and so-called street mix "mix you up". But when you're in intense tension, you're very sensitive to the fluctuations.

Let's talk a little about listening, as a tool. Specifically, on what is called "active listening."

We teach how to talk and encourage the person in front of the discourse. All kinds of mirroring techniques designed to establish in the interlocutor the sense of listening and being interested. Look, if I'm not really interested in what you're telling me, no nod and no fuss will help. You know I'm a fake. If my people are unable to show true and deep compassion, if they fail to truly connect with the immense pain he feels in this crisis, I can teach them active listening until tomorrow. I do not belittle theories. We learn theories all the time. But learning theories doesn't make you a negotiator. If I come to the ring and I can't feel compassion and show off - it's worth nothing.

I read an interview with Gary Nussner, the expert who conducted the initial and successful negotiations with David Cyrus's cult. He argues that the initial condition is precisely self-control. The speaker must not go out of his way, not even for a second.

I think a person who is in complete control, who does not betray or externalize any emotion - may actually be less effective. You have to be in control, but you can't be a robot. This is perfectly fine, and it is also totally happening, that speakers are crying during the negotiations. I have no fault with that. We never exchanged a speaker because he was crying. We are emotionally driven. What stands out in my mind is the ability to connect to the same emotion, without falling apart, to approach this person and offer him a different reality. For example, we had an event with an incurable patient. What can I tell her? Tomorrow I'll get up and everything will go away? My job right now, in the crisis, is to make it clear to her that there are tools to help her cope. I am not a therapist, I emphasize this again, I am at a point of crisis and want to help. If I act like a robot, I can't help it. If I am unable to provide a basic ability to face reality, I will not be able to help. The incident with that lady touched my heart. At the time, we were dealing with a similar disease in my immediate vicinity, and I couldn't help but think how we were coping. How we would deal.

What happens when you fail?

It is difficult. Again, I am fortunately married to a psychologist - when I come home I have someone to talk to, I have how to unpack. But that's unbearable. In the arena, when we see that we are not successful, we are constantly looking for a new approach. Everything is very liquid. Very explosive. We can take all kinds of measures - replace a speaker, ventilate the arena, change the atmosphere - we have all kinds of tools we can use, but one thing we don't - we don't give up. Never. We didn't raise our hands even once. A few years ago, a man entered a bank in Beersheba, after he had already shot and killed several people, he locked himself with a hostage in the bathroom. Our speaker stood close to the door for about an hour talking to him. He didn't even answer him once. But for an entire hour he stood outside the door and spoke without comment. We do not give up. We will talk in front of closed doors. And we'll talk to people who don't listen to us. And we'll talk on the phone, too, if there's no choice. We will not give up.

What did he tell him? What can you say to a man who has just committed robbery and murder. He doesn't realize he won't be home today.

In this case, the speaker introduced himself and explained that he was there because he cared, both for the kidnapper and for those who were with him. Expressing this concern has significance because this person, who has crossed a very critical line of shooting and murder, also understands that he is still important to someone, and that we are here because he is important to us. For me, there is no difference between this difficult case, the case of a girl who wants to commit suicide because of a boycott. My job is to intervene in a crisis and cause a minor and minor change. I do not solve the problem. I can't solve the problem. I tell them - there is another way. There are other options. More people who were in this place. For an incurable patient, I said there were many more patients in her condition. Everyone puts an end to their lives? If you're sick, aren't you more important to other people? Does your family no longer love you? Your friends are not related to you? The dog you're raising isn't waiting for you at the door? waiting for you. Love you. There's always something to talk about.

 

[faust]

"Hello. In almost every situation we manage to find a reason (and usually a few reasons) why you should stay alive and not finish it. The reasons vary from person to person: Some will understand the pain and pain that will inflict on their families and loved ones if they go prematurely and change their minds, there are those who still work It is important to them, or those who want to achieve goals that have not yet been fulfilled in their lives. For identification, we direct our people to show empathy, which in simple terms is like "getting into the shoes of the person in front of you without walking in them." So the identification element certainly exists, and is a matter of personal and emotional choice. That the negotiator chooses to do in the negotiation process"

Those who want to achieve goals... I was surprised to read that, this reason is a bit more valid than those which are mentioned by suicide hotlines.

 

[Yomyom]

"Hello. In almost every situation we manage to find a reason (and usually a few reasons) why you should stay alive and not finish it. The reasons vary from person to person: Some will understand the pain and pain that will inflict on their families and loved ones if they go prematurely and change their minds, there are those who still work It is important to them, or those who want to achieve goals that have not yet been fulfilled in their lives. For identification, we direct our people to show empathy, which in simple terms is like "getting into the shoes of the person in front of you without walking in them." So the identification element certainly exists, and is a matter of personal and emotional choice. That the negotiator chooses to do in the negotiation process"

Those who want to achieve goals... I was surprised to read that, this reason is a bit more valid than those which are mentioned by suicide hotlines.

Yes, They always make sure to perfect their methods

 

[Yomyom]

I just saw that, this is from 2008, not really something to be worries about but still a little disturbing

The Suicide Rescue Unit on the Internet
A special police unit specializes in rescuing online surfers who want to commit suicide. About 200 of them are detected each year, dozens of which are saved from death. Unit members are first exposed

"I took all the pills out of the closet and started counting what I had in stock," she wrote late last night on a Walla site forum. "I have 28 pills and stone. I have 21 primonil. I have 48 clonks. It's close to a hundred sedatives of different kinds. And another bottle of ribotril. And there are the antidepressants that I regularly receive and can get in two boxes at once. It's a serious stock. And I felt bad and wanted to write, and I put everything back in the closet and put Pink Floyd on and went to bed. I tried to think how long I would give myself until I came to the conclusion that this life was not worth living. I no longer have the strength for this everyday war. Joy and pleasure. I have no idea what yet, but reassuring to know that the balls are in the closet. "

This post and the like, all written in various online forums, are stored in a thick, blue binder in the negotiating unit's offices at Latrun police headquarters. The unit's deputy commander, Gil Amit, goes through the black pages, briefly stopping to read a message. "I made the decision that I thought a lot about, between smoking, sleeping, writing and depression," he reads in a message that left a Ma'aleh Adumim girl under the name "Pussy in Paranoia" in a mental support forum on an orange site. "These Massa moments from the world are the main thing I think about. Even the appearance of my grave and people who won't even cry at me. I see no point in continuing this backward circle I live in. A cycle of anger, disappointment and crying. I don't want anymore. I want to die. Going to bed, hoping not to get up. "

"We have so many letters like this," says a colleague with a thoughtful countenance, as if struck again by the sequence of letters he holds between his hands. "The Internet has become the modern confessional," he explains, recalling the two letters he issued. "The Internet is responding to people who are shedding their distress, their problems. When I entered this world, the intensity of this phenomenon amazed me. The days of the internet's doom phenomenon are the Internet's own chemistry. Among them are suicidal messages. "

Lonely space
Three years ago, a special team of six police officers was set up in the police negotiation unit to identify potential suicide bombers on the Internet. There was an urgent need for that. Samuel Zoltech, a psychologist in training and the unit's commander for the past 16 years, realized after a series of disturbing inquiries that something was changing in front of his eyes. "Until a few years ago, the internet was out of our sight, we didn't know this content world," he reveals. "But then we started to get more and more inquiries from concerned surfers and forum managers. We received, for example, a person who calls himself 'Phone 42' who wrote that he intended to kill himself. Or bullets. "

After several similar inquiries, Zoltech identified a new phenomenon before him. "As a number of these kinds of referrals grew more and more, I realized that this phenomenon needs to be taken more seriously," he said. "Our unit's traditional range of reference deals primarily with responding to criminal cases, kidnapping and extortion, terrorist incidents, but also responding to suicidal cases of people threatening to jump from the roof or a bridge. In all cases, our ability as negotiators, skilled in solving crises, is required. With the accumulation of referrals to us, we have discovered that a new arena of occurrence is emerging that we are unaware of: more and more people are leaving suicidal messages in our virtual space that require our attention. "

"At the same time, we were also dealing with classic suicide attempts, but their mass did not even come close to the mass of reports of suicide intentions that we encounter online," says Amit. "In terms of work volume, the internet has increased the events four times, every year we handle about 200 suicide events on the Internet. This is an amazing statistic."

For this reason, the police are in continuous contact with all forum administrators, who are asked to be vigilant when encountering suicidal messages. "The suicide profile on the Internet is quite diverse, there are women and men, young and old, and a broad social spectrum. However, there are a number of characteristics that link them together," says Amit. "Suicidal are found in certain forums, such as those dealing with eating disorders, mental support or sexual assault victims' forums. We will not find them in a chess or motorcycle forum. .

Is this also the main source of warning?

"The message of concern about a suicide comes in most cases from an alert forum that identified a serious message or surfers calling the police. We do not monitor the network. Usually, the posts are filtered by forums managers who identify the level of risk. We also do textual analysis for the same posts We decide to intervene as the risk level seems higher to us, with the suicide program more specific. "

How do you locate the suicidal person?

"We immediately contact the internet provider of that surfer. By law, the internet providers don't have to give us the surfer's personal information, but because it is mentally supervised they help us. It's the fastest way to get to a suicide. The speed is critical. Working on borrowed time, with people calling out their latest shout.

We come in at the time of the shout and must at the fastest possible time catch them, produce a process that will make them regret or stop the suicide act. Sometimes we are late, but during our years of work we saved 25 suicidal people after their suicide attempts. "

What happens next?

"It depends. In a lot of cases we pass on the responsibility to parents. In other situations, the local police officers who come to the arena continue to treat, which is mainly referral to welfare agencies. We only provide a first and one-time response, we do not treat."

self exposure

Yitzhak Gilat, director of the Internet field in Eren (mental first aid), encourages police intervention to prevent suicide attempts. "We have also expanded Internet assistance, because this medium has special advantages in a predicament. There is anonymity on the Internet that gives emotional confidence to tell and share. In addition, Internet communication is based on writing, and writing encourages self-exposure and facilitates emotion expression. This may explain the fact that eight percent Of all the referrals to us over the Internet, are related to suicide. In the telephone answer, however, only two percent of all referrals refer to suicide. "

Gilat, like other forum administrators on the network, addresses the police only in situations of risk where the treatment comes to a dead end. "The police unit that deals with suicidal person on the Internet meets a need we cannot provide," Gilat emphasizes. "There are cases where the suicidal person is not ready to give us identifying details, but we are obviously facing a suicidal suicide case. So we are helpless and so we pass on the information we have to the police. .

Hagit Bat-El, a training officer in the negotiating unit, has saved four suicides in the past six months. In the last case, which happened two weeks ago, Bat-El managed to convince a soldier to leave on a police course, to return to him with a suicide note. "On Thursday, after the same soldier came home, he wrote to his friend online that he was planning to commit suicide," Bat-El says. "The friend called the police and I got the message overnight. When his details came to me, I talked to him for more than two hours. He had already left the house, in the woods near Beit She'an. During a conversation, I tried to understand his story and where he was. In SS messages, I contacted police who were trying to locate him. We kept talking, he told me a very sad story about a friend of his who had been killed a week earlier in a car accident. He told me he wanted to join her. And stop him before deciding to end his life. "

Sometimes the pursuit of the suicide brings loaded meetings. That's what happened to Bat-El months ago, in a conversation with a 16-year-old boy from her room. "When I called his parents at five in the morning they were terribly indifferent to me," she says. "After I told them that their kid had written on the computer that he wanted to commit suicide, they said to me, 'Well? So what?' It doesn't matter to them. We usually pass on the responsibility to the parents, who deal with the problem. Here was no one to talk to. I called the boy, he already ran away from home. I managed to arrange a meeting with him at a train station. We talked for half a day at the train station in her room. His was actually the family. He was discouraged, suicidal, and his parents denied it. Through the conversation, I opened up an opening of hope and brought him to the welfare institutions. "

Has an emotional connection been established in these conversations?

"As soon as there is eye contact, a meeting, then a deep emotional bond is formed very quickly. But usually the connection between us and the person who threatens suicide is a telephone conversation. It is a fundamental difference, of course less emotional. Speech and voice When you are completely blind on the phone it makes it hard to let a suicide go through you, but also through a lot of emotion, I get thrown into very difficult life stories, sexually exploited girls, deep loneliness of people, and I get sucked into it. "But in the end there remains a taste for satisfaction. I can't think of greater satisfaction than saving someone's life."

Sleep calm

The Israeli police's pattern of responding to suicide announcements on the Internet is one of a kind. "We are the only police in the world doing this," Zoltech boasts, adding that the Israeli model for handling suicide announcements on the internet will soon be adopted by European police. "Representatives of the Swedish police, who have been training with us on the subject, sent us an email a month ago about the first suicide rescue incident in Sweden, carried out under Israeli police protocol. Next month, two more delegations, German and French, will come to study our model. There is interest in this story, and I think it is right. "

Is there any reason why such an innovative model has developed in Israel?

"I think Israel has a total commitment to saving lives, which has to do with the tradition of sanctifying human life. This commitment is enforced to some extent even if it means that measures are allegedly taken as a breach of privacy. In the United States, in my opinion, such conduct would not have happened. Working on a reasonable balance, on the one hand, we have created an individual rights-sensitive strainer, and on the other, we have succeeded in reaching people who have not found psychic help anywhere. "

"It should be remembered that it is not a criminal offense to commit suicide," adds Amit about Zoltech's answer. "An elderly person can commit suicide and the police do not have enforcement authority in this area. We can offer him an attentive ear, direct him for mental assistance and support, but he can do whatever he wants. That's why sometimes there is a kind of 'anti' to our intervention. People know that the internet needs to be intimate. And confidential, and for that reason sometimes the suicides claim against us: 'What are you, Big Brother?' We try to explain in these situations that we just want to help. "

Are there also failures?

"I had one case, and it's also the only case recorded in the unit's brief history. Unfortunately, I handled this case. I spoke to a 30-year-old woman from Intelligence. She was in ongoing clinical depression and wrote that she was planning to commit suicide until the morning. Someone, but she's not so happy to talk to. I told her I sent her cops to help her. When they got to her house, she offered to accompany them to a psychiatric hospital, and she agreed. "When they opened the door, she was already dying on the floor. They couldn't revive her. It was a blow to me. I thought I could save her and then everything went awry. I felt like a doctor whose patient had passed away." *

 

[rhiino]

I find this manipulative in some way. They don't give the people help, they don't take away any of their suffering or give them a solution to their problems, they just prevent them from one solution and even guilt-tripping is used to achieve this.
It is really not about the suicidal people, about helping them, it is about the people trying to prevent them from it, so they feel better, like they have done something good.

 

[Yomyom]

I find this manipulative in some way. They don't give the people help, they don't take away any of their suffering or give them a solution to their problems, they just prevent them from one solution and even guilt-tripping is used to achieve this.
It is really not about the suicidal people, about helping them, it is about the people trying to prevent them from it, so they feel better, like they have done something good.

It's not their job to help, their job is to rescue, after that it's The work of the welfare system.
I guess they feel good because they believe in value of life.

 

[rhiino]

That is the problem with pro-lifers, they believe in the value of life, but not quality of life.