9/11 Memorial Worry: Suicides

The New York Times today takes a look at a potential problem that, as of yet, has mercifully not come to pass: suicide at the 9/11 memorial. The article focuses on the fears of the NYPD, and is spun off of comments Commissioner Raymond Kelly made to Esquire yesterday about the memorial's two sunken pools. In the article, he acknowledges that, "We have to think of these possibilities. We're concerned about the possibility of somebody jumping in. This is what we're paid to think about."

The NYPD apparently fears that someone overcome with grief may try to take his life there. The Times notes that 1 million visitors have come and gone without incident; still, police are taking the possibility seriously. Says Kelly, "We actually have a plan for when [a suicide] happens." A professor of social work at Columbia explains the potential trigger: "The memorial, rather than serving as a source of comfort, can heighten feelings of either ‘This is unjust’ or desires for revenge of some sort. They can feed into those negative feelings that the person is stuck in." (More suicide stories.)