By Carla Zanoni
DNAinfor Reporter/Producer
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — In the wake of several recent high-profile suicides at the George Washington Bridge, Port Authority officials said they are investigating new techniques to prevent such deaths in the future.
"The Port Authority is consistently looking at ways to update our suicide prevention program," Port Authority spokeswoman Jennifer Friedberg told DNAinfo.
Although the Authority would not confirm the methods it's considering, representatives from the New York City-based National Suicide Prevention Lifeline (NSPL) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration said there are really only three recommended ways to prevent suicides at bridges. They include fences, concrete walls and telephone stations connected to suicide hotline workers.
The George Washington Bridge already has phones installed along its pedestrian walkways.
An NYPD spokesman said they do not publicize the amount of attempted suicides or suicides each year, because they do not want to encourage individuals to "try to make that list." Friedberg said the Port Authority also does not release suicide statistics.
But sources say Port Authority and NYPD officers frequently talk jumpers down from the bridge.
Glossy suicide prevention posters appeared on the bridge days after several recent suicides, including the death of Tyler Clementi, the Rutgers freshman who jumped from the bridge after learning his roommate secretly videotaped him with another man and posted the footage online.
Before jumping, Clementi posted a note on his Facebook page that read, "Jumping off the gw bridge sorry."
Two days before Clementi's body was found, Joseph Cerniglia, a chef who was featured in Gordon Ramsey's reality television show "Kitchen Nightmares," also lept to his death from the bridge.
Physical barriers like fences or concrete walls are believed to be the most effective way to prevent suicides, according to John Draper, project director of NSPL, one of the agencies responsible for the posters on the George Washington Bridge. But he warned that the high cost can be a deterrent.
"Bridge or transportation authorities may choose to install bridge phones linked to local suicide prevention call centers as cost saving mechanisms over installing bridge barriers," his team wrote in a 2008 NSPL paper.
"Lifeline is unable to recommend this approach as the first most effective, empirically-validated course of action in preventing suicides from bridges."
Elizabeth Lorris Ritter, a 28-year-resident of Washington Heights, said she is not in favor of physical barriers on the George Washington Bridge and would like to see other methods explored.
Lorris Ritter looks out onto the bridge every day from her kitchen window and knows firsthand how often people jump from the bridge, both through her work as an activist in the community as well as knowing some of the victims.
She indicated that those wanting to commit suicide may not be deterred by physical barriers and that a human approach could be more effective in preventing such deaths from the bridge.
She said her beliefs were validated when she spoke to several Port Authority workers after Clementi's death.
"While I knew suicide was a bigger problem than people realized or like to admit, I hadn't stopped to consider the human component for Port Authority employees. This is something that clearly affects them personally, and why wouldn’t it?" she said.
"It occurs to me that that same tragedy is also possibly part of the solution, leveraging that sense of personal connection that is formed between strangers that allows a Port Authority worker to connect with another human being.
"There is something about that momentary personal connection that can make a difference," Lorris Ritter added. "More than concrete barriers or fences, it's what the Port Authority can do to help people from making that choice. Ultimately, it just comes down to people."
