Psychos

           Please, don't do it. The family always says that. Always. See, I'm a cop, but not just any cop, I'm a cop trained to stop people with suicidal tendencies. We've all seen it before and at least half of all Americans have thought about it and attempted it before and even though there are thousands of suicide prevention hotlines, for some reason this person (yea, they're a person) decided not to call one of the billions of hotlines, but instead stand on top of a skyscraper and threaten to jump. The thing is, because of instincts, most people don't want to die, they just don't want to have to cope with pain anymore. Either that or they're high on drugs. But, if they're high, you have to talk to them different than if they're suicidal, though drugs are suicidal.

           Never argue or say the opposite of what someone who's suicidal is saying, because then they won't feel heard and are moral suicidal. Listen, distract, listen, objectify, listen, distract. In that order. I say, “What's going on? Why you want to jump?” They're out of money, their spouse cheated on them, their kid is dead, they got fired, they have cancer, I've heard it all. All.  They're in an abusive relationship they can't get out of. Listen, distract. “Well, is there anything at all good happening in your life?” They rarely say, No, or if they do, I have them think deeper. They have kids, they have a dog that loves them, they have a shower, clothes, food, etc. Go back to the basics. There are kids in Africa who don't even have a bed. You got a bed. Maybe you'll find another girl who will be faithful to you that you'll love more. Plenty of fish in the sea. We'll get you a cup of coffee, let you cry, help you stay where you're living, etc. Promise them the world and put them in the psycho ward, but visit them and help them out when they're out of the psycho ward. Some cops don't do that, but I do. I'm a special cop with years of experience with suicidals and I know a lot of them will try again without further intervention and sometimes medication. 

           But, maybe the reader is asking themselves, why? Why would you visit them in the psycho ward? You're job isn't to visit them, you're job is to get them down, put the gun down, put the pills away, etc. That's your job. Well, there I a reason for that which I guess I'll share with you. See, once I was trying to talk this kid off an edge and I did. I got him off and got him into the nut house. Then, I let the shrinks do their thing. But, in a month, he was back up on the same building, but more determined this time. The only person who came to the Nut House was his Mom, who guilt tripped him for doing this to her and was upset she had to pay the psycho ward bill. He felt no one gived a damn. So, I talked him down again, but visited him and, as a cop you're supposed to have a sense of detachment, but I became attached to this kid in the two weeks he was in the Looney Bin. But, he taught me something. Getting someone to step down from the ledge and maybe getting them on anti-depressants is only the first step. You have to get them back in the community. Get them to do volunteer work, get a job where they feel needed, like they're of value, instead of a burden to be had. The reason the majority of kids join gangs is because they want a family and don't have someone they can call a family at home. Yea, the gang's initiation is gang rape or beating beat up, but they don't care. The people being initiated don't care because then they feel like there's somewhere where they belong. Or they go to Alcholics Anonymous meeting or Narcotics Anonymous meetings, even if they aren't alcholics or narcs, because they feel like they belong somewhere. Or I get them into sports, theatre, anything. There are people who think they want to isolate, but what they want is to be with people like themselves. 

           The problem sometimes happen when their lonliness causes them to get involved in less productive groups like The Proud Boys, the Ku Klux Klan, the Neo-Nazis, etc. The kids think they're feeling better because now they're with people who accept them the way they are and then the real trouble begins and I have to arrest these minors for drug trafficking, murder, rape, theft, vandalism, and the list goes on. So, I visit them in the psycho ward to start to steer them in better directions, but I don't always succeed. One time, someone made videos where they taught kids fancy dance moves and thought they would do that instead of join gains and it was a dismal failure on all accounts.

           Then, there are the disabled suicides. Disableds are tough for several reasons. First, sometimes, due to speech impediments, I don't know what the fuck they're saying or they don't know what the fuck I'm saying. How can I talk someone down I can't communicate with? They also tend to be the losers in their schools. Kids pick on other kids with disabilities and teachers tend to join the cool kids in picking on the kids with disabilities, which again leads to lonliness, which again leads to attempted suicide. 

           I've had kids who were dillusional because of their disability, kids saying the same illogical phrase over and over because of their disability, kids saying they have no friends and won't have friends or get married because of their disability. So, I tell them people in wheelchairs get married. They're geeks now, but everyone will want them when they have a great paying job, etc. and I haven't had one jump yet, but it's gotten close a few times. Never argue with them or contradict them, just show them some sign or hope and steer them to a support group. Emotions Anonymous helped some of them.  

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           There are a few in each category who have jumped, pulled the trigger, or in some other way succeeded in killing themselves. The youngster who was told he was born the opposite sex when they were intersexual and the electrical circumcision went wrong after reaching puberty. The young girl who was told do to a sports injury, she'd never be able to have her own children, the single mom who just lost one of her three jobs and can't make ends meet or afford college. Those are the sad ones, so I try to keep them out of my mind while talking to the kids and wait to talk to my grief councelor, but I don't always succeed. Sometimes when negotiating. I start crying, soft like, but no one else has died because of the tears. So, I visit the kids in the Looney Bin and I talk to them when they're on the top of the buildings and I think in my head, Please, don't do it, but I don't say it out loud and follow my training and nine times out of ten it works. It works.