Heroes on High: Police Crisis Negotiation Team Saves a Life, Prevents Colorado Street Bridge Suicide

Members of the Pasadena Police Department Crisis Negotiation Team (CNT) successfully talked a despondent man off the Colorado Street Bridge Wednesday afternoon, ending a tense three-hour drama that closed the popular bridge.

Two negotiators convinced the unidentified 24-year-old man to climb back to safety after they brought the man’s family members to the scene and used recordings of the young man’s grandmother and others to help end the crisis. The man was taken to an undisclosed facility for psychiatric evaluation following the incident, Lt. Pete Hettema said.

A total of 10 Crisis Negotiation Team members worked at the scene to bring the incident to its successful outcome.

There are about 14 suicides a year in Pasadena on average, and typically four a year involve the Colorado Street Bridge, according to Pasadena police officials.

“We are very proud of the work by the men and women of the Pasadena Police Department and today was no exception,” said Police Chief Phillip Sanchez Wednesday, following the incident. According to Sanchez, the Team recently underwent a significant change with six newer members added to its ranks.

Thursday’s primary negotiator, Corporal Andrea Perez, was among the new additions to the team.

“This was the first critical incident that she had participated in under this new role and she performed magnificently, as did the entire team,” Sanchez said.

Pasadena’s current Crisis Negotiation Team has 14 members, consisting of one Lieutenant, two Sergeants, three Corporals, two Dispatchers, one Park Safety Specialist, and five Officers. Six members of the team are women and eight are men, according to Lt. Vasken Gourdikian.

The team is a voluntary assignment, says Gourdikian, with no time limit or constraints in terms of number of years, and it is considered an “absolute specialty” by the police department.

Crisis Negotiation Team members undergo an initial 40 hours of Peace Officers Standards & Training for crisis negotiators or the crisis negotiators class. There are also mandatory quarterly meetings for every member of the team, each of whom is required to belong to the California Association of Hostage Negotiators. Officers also attend an annual convention which offers training and guest lecturers, said Gourdikian.

Gourdikian also explained the typical protocol for “jumper” incidents, though he emphasized each case is also very different:

“Whenever CNT is called out to a scene they respond with their full compliment, or as many from their team as possible,” he said. “Typically, the first responding officer tries to or establishes some dialogue with the distraught individual in an effort to talk him or her down. Once the CNT arrives, they attempt to introduce themselves into the scenario via dialogue and ultimately take over the incident. The teams work in pairs as these incidents can take several hours to bring to a successful resolution. There are many moving parts: the primary negotiator and his or her partner, the dispatcher and their team who conduct intel on the individual to find out their identity, and sometimes we have members of the team with family members.”

Wednesday’s incident was no exception.

“We had negotiators at work on the bridge with the primary negotiator doing most of the talking and working on establishing a rapport,” Gourdikian said. “There were members of the team working with the family, and we had members of the team working on intel as well. CNT also collaborates with Patrol and Fire, who in turn establish a command post and they operate off a unified command post model so that all parts are in synch with one another.”

Police Chief Sanchez pointed out that yesterday’s incident began at 10:30 a.m. and ended at 2:00 p.m.

“That is a lot of time in the sun,” he explained, “operating in an emotionally charged environment, exposed to the elements. These incidents are not easy to deal with and it takes a lot of dedication and compassion to be able to operate under these types of circumstances.”

“We could not be prouder of Corporal Perez and CNT’s efforts. We are all very pleased that this incident had a successful conclusion,” Sanchez also said.