CULTURE of DEATH:Would-be suicides keep police tied up

The entire force from the Glilot police station found itself hard at work out in the field one evening at the beginning of July.Dozens of officers were busy providing security for a huge event at an ambassador's residence in Herzliya, while all the rest-beat cops,volunteers,detectives and a police helicopter-were out searching for a Herzliya resident who was thought to be planning to commit suicide.Four hours after the search began,the man was found dead near the Herzliya beach."That's why we did not apprehend even one thief that day since we didn't have any time left to deal with that problem. True,we tried to save a person's life,which is, after all,more important than other things,but when this happens to us-at least three or four times a week-I cannot even begin to describe how how much of our work it takes up,"said the station commander,Chief Superintendent Yitzhak Gotniv.The police handle thousands of missing persons complaints a year.Hundreds fall into the category of "feared for their lives."These include the elderly and sick, young children or other defenseless souls,but most of the time the cases are people who have disappeared from home intending to commit suicide.
According to Health Ministry statistics, 417 people committed suicide in Israel in 2003.The latest police figures show about 400 suicides last year.About 3,500 people attempt suicide every year,and usually it is the police who are called in by family members to find them:either just before they make the attempt, or just after they succeed.
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As in the days of Noah...