Angels Patrol: How Suicides Are Saved at Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco

The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is one of the most famous bridges in the United States; it has been shown in many films and has many interesting stories associated with it. But there is another side to this bridge - it has become a haven for suicides. How and who is fighting this writes with the BBC.

Фото: Depositphotos

The film “The Bridge” is a 2006 documentary film about the sad side of the Golden Gate. Not only is it the most photographed structure in the States and the most visited bridge in the world, but it is also the site of a large number of suicides.

Who are the "Angels"

The bridge was opened in 1937, and since then, according to official statistics, 1700 people have committed suicide there. In 2018 alone, 187 suicide attempts were recorded on the bridge - one every two days.

The fact that only 27 out of 187 people achieved their goal is a credit to the police and volunteers. People like Mia Munaer and Kevin Briggs have saved hundreds of people from death over the past 20 years.

Mia and Kevin are both cops, although Briggs is retired after years of service with the California Highway Patrol.

Mia Munaer created a volunteer network called Bridgewatch Angels. Volunteers who work with her regularly help authorities patrol the bridge to prevent suicides.

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As for Kevin Briggs, when he worked as a police officer, he received the nickname “Golden Gate Guard.” During his years of service, he negotiated with more than 200 people who intended to commit suicide on the bridge.

Special dates

Many who live near the San Francisco Bay are unaware of the dark side of the famous bridge. This was true for Munaer, too, until she attended a screening of The Bridge in 2010.

“My colleagues and I were taking a refresher course, and we were shown this documentary,” she shared.

“I realized I had to do something to prevent more deaths.”

Then she founded the “Angels,” which, since 2011, began monitoring the bridge on special dates, such as Valentine’s Day or Christmas Eve. Volunteers of the organization have been trained in methods of communicating with people in a state of severe psychological stress.

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In the 2017 year, according to the Department of Health, in the USA, 47 thousand people committed suicide.

Suicide is now the second leading cause of death among Americans ages 10 to 34.

Munair spent over 10 thousand dollars of personal funds for education for volunteers who expressed their willingness to patrol the bridge on days of special significance.

In recent years, military holidays have been added to the list of such dates because the suicide rate among young veterans has jumped. According to the US Department of Veterans Affairs, there are now 100 deaths of former military participants per 40 thousand people, while the US average this figure is almost three times lower - 14 deaths per 100 thousand people.

How to talk with people

Munair, a police officer, teaches volunteers how to spot people who need psychological help and how to help them.

She explains that the key is “talking to people. Let them know they are not alone.”

And also listen: “Sometimes this is the best way to establish contact.”

For former police officer Kevin Briggs, his work on the bridge was not initially a matter of personal choice. For more than 20 years, Golden Gate was part of the area he patrolled every day.

For the first time, he came across a man trying to commit suicide on a bridge in the year 1994.

“At that time, police officers were not specifically trained to deal with such situations. I had a terrible fear when I saw a young girl climbing over the railing,” Briggs said. “In my free time, I started reading about suicide prevention, which was a good decision because over the next 20 years I had to act in such situations very often.”

The famous case of salvation

More than 200 times, Briggs was able to convince people to get off the bridge, but twice he failed.

“It's the failures that are remembered more than the people you helped,” says a former police officer who later struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder.

He is now considered an authoritative consultant on suicide prevention. He lectures about this all over the country.

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Briggs became famous in the 2005 year, when one of the cases of salvation was widely publicized in the local and world press. Across the railing was an 22-year-old man named Kevin Bertia, who was suffering from severe depression and was desperate over 250's bill of thousands of dollars for treating a premature daughter.

“I talked to him for over an hour and a half, and he climbed back,” Briggs recalls.

Eight years later, it was from the hands of Bertia that Kevin Briggs received an award from the American Suicide Prevention Organization.

The problem of all of America

The Golden Gate Bridge is a mirror of what is happening across the country, says a former police officer. “The mental health problem is so big that it can no longer be ignored.”

Apparently, the local authorities finally agreed with this vision. After discussions that lasted several decades, the construction of a safety barrier to prevent suicide began in 2017.

The project costs $200 million, and the installation of the nets should be completed by 2021. The nets will be six meters wide and suspended six meters below the surface of the bridge. This means, warns the official website of the Golden Gate, that if people get into them, they will most likely suffer injuries and fractures.

There has been controversy over the barrier installation project for a long time. Critics say the expense is not justified and the barrier will not save people who decide to commit suicide - they will find another way to do it.

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“I support the barrier project because it is a powerful reminder that we value human life,” says San Francisco psychiatrist John Cruz.

Second chance

Mia Munaer refers to the work of psychiatrist Richard Seiden, who studied the lives of people who were talked out of committing suicide on the Golden Gate Bridge between 1937 and 1971.

Seiden found out that out of 515, only 25 people subsequently committed suicide.

In addition, according to Munaer's observations, on the Golden Gate Bridge, not all people follow the plan - many act impulsively.

“Many times a person seems like a tourist to me, and then suddenly it turns out that they urgently need help,” she adds.

Kevin Briggs believes that an investment of 200 million dollars would be useful to spend on combating mental health problems nationwide, rather than in one specific place. However, he says he understands the proponents of the barrier well.

“I myself did not lose anyone on the bridge and I understand the relatives of the victims who believe that the barrier would have saved their lives.”

Myths and Prejudices

Briggs and Munaer agree that little is said about the problem of suicide.

“This topic is surrounded by prejudice. But we can no longer avoid talking about why 800 people a year around the world commit suicide,” Briggs quotes World Health Organization statistics.

Munaer believes that methods such as the 2006 documentary touch a nerve and shatter "myths about suicide" among people.

She also mentions public discussions where survivors of a suicide attempt on the Golden Gate Bridge speak about their experiences. As a rule, people say that they regretted their decision in the first seconds. Many also say they would stop if passersby tried to make contact with them.

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“This bridge is a harbinger of death,” said Kevin Hines, who survived a suicide attempt on the bridge in 2000. “But I wouldn’t do it if someone talked to me.”

“If you see that someone is feeling bad, it is your duty to approach and speak, to try to get the person to open up to you and share what’s in their heart,” says Mia Munaer. “Something can change thanks to you.”

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