SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (AP) – Five new officers will be hired to patrol the Golden Gate Bridge specifically to search for people looking to jump to their death.
The Marin Independent Journal reports Sunday (http://bayareane.ws/2ejyhG1) the bridge board on Friday approved adding the new bridge officers to the patrol, bringing the total to 22. They are expected to be working on the span in about two months.
Between 2000 and 2005, bridge officers were able to stop an average of 52 people a year from jumping from the span. So far in 2016 there have been 138 successful interventions and the number is projected to exceed 200 by the end of the year.
Capt. Lisa Locati, the span’s top law enforcement officials, says the increase in successful interventions is directly related to having more officers patrolling the bridge’s sidewalks.
More than 1,400 people have jumped to their deaths since the bridge opened in 1937.