Okay, now that I am thinking a little more clearly, being raised by a cop (which I was as well, for the record, my step father who raised me is a Sgt and has been on his dept for over 21 years) and having to interact with people that cops themselves come into contact with are two totally different things. Obviously, cops get the physical and visual end of these things, which you clearly stated, but saying I have no idea what it's like? That statement alone proves that the general public really has no idea what ANY public safety worker goes through, cop or not. I can go on and on about horrific, scary, and mentally damaging incidents that I have been involved in, but it won't help anything. The bottom line is, I personally have countless hours of training classes, certificates, and in house experience, I am trained on what to say and how to speak to a suicidal person. If someone is going to do it, they are going to do it. It certainly is not always a cry for help. The man who shot himself in the head with me on the phone simply told me where to find his body and pulled the trigger. I got to listen to his hysteric voice and crying for all of 45 seconds before I heard the shot, then I got to listen to his death gurgle for 3 1/2 minutes until the police and rescue arrived on scene. That was probably my worst suicide.

I have had everything from the attention seeker "suicidal" people to the "come find my body" suicidal people, and it isn't easy with any of them. If that man was just looking for attention or crying for help as people say, he wouldn't have stayed there for an hour, he had plenty of time to think (not rationally obviously....there is nothing rational about a suicidal person's mind), and he had plenty of time to change his mind. To risk first responder safety, in a body of water, with possible hidden weapons is just crazy. I am not saying that in that situation I personally wouldn't have jumped in to help him, but to say that officers and firefighters have no sense of humanity just because they are looking out for their own safety is rude. Like I said, the newspaper only gives one side of the story, he could have been shouting threats the entire time for all we know.