By Police1 Staff
NEW YORK — In an effort to honor officers who have done heroic work in suicide prevention, the NYPD and New York City’s chapter of The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention co-hosted the first-ever HOPE Awards last week.
The ceremony recognized officers that contributed to the rescue of suicidal persons and people in crisis.
The awardees were honored for work that included recognizing signs of a person in crisis and properly responding to that person, sharing information that dispeled suicide and mental illness myths, and crisis communication. These officers provided relief in incidents involving an armed person barricaded in an apartment, a suicidal person on a bridge and a situation where a person in crisis needed to be located using social media and specialized technology.
The HOPE awards is a continuation of the long-standing partnership between the NYPD and AFSP. Among its work with the NYPD: the AFSP shares their Talk Saves Lives presentations at police-community events, helps develop training for officers, and sponsored and participated in the first-ever NYPD psychological autopsy training created for law enforcement.
You can find the full list of awardees and a summary of their work, here.
Options are available if you are feeling suicidal or in a crisis. For emergencies, call 911.