‘Police rescued a teenager who was attempting to jump from the rooftop of a high-rise apartment after a conversation lasting over two hours with a police crisis negotiation specialist.
According to the Seoul Seocho Police Station on the 16th, a report was received the previous day at 8:30 p.m. stating, “A friend said that someone will jump from a rooftop of an apartment in Gangnam.”
After searching 15 apartment buildings in the area where the signal of A, the teenager, was picked up, the police found A on the rooftop railing of a 24-story apartment building in Seocho District.
However, as A was sitting at the end of a narrow space making it difficult to approach, the police deployed two crisis negotiation specialists specialized in dealing with suicide attempts to persuade A.
They began building trust by using terms like ‘elder sister’ and ‘brother’ with A, who showed resistance, and inducing conversation with topics like favorite foods.
Moreover, whenever A looked down, diverting attention by saying, “Hey, look here, sister is here. Sister wants to see you,” and coaxing with words like, “I want sister to talk to ○○ after seeing his face.”
Eventually, A approached the railing saying, “I will go over by myself,” and the specialists successfully rescued A by saying, “Thank you, sister is here.”
An official from Seocho Station stated, “We have been deploying specialized crisis negotiation specialists for suicide attempts for the first time nationwide since last month,” and highlighted this as a case where the specialists’ performance stood out.’