Police chiefs call for anti-suicide barriers on bridges
Alex Fraser and Pattullo spans need more proactive crisis response, they say
Local police chiefs are calling for suicide-prevention measures to be added to two bridges over the Fraser River.
Delta police Chief Neil Dubord said officers are called to the Alex Fraser Bridge on average once a week to respond to possible suicide attempts.
“One of the things that we are very interested in is trying to look at systems that will allow us to be proactive for people who are in crisis,” Dubord said.
Dubord said there is a staff sergeant working on having phone boxes installed on the Alex Fraser so that people in crisis can reach a counsellor right away or a bystander can call for help. Beyond that, he said, Delta police would like to see some kind of suicide-prevention barrier on the bridge, whether it’s fencing like on the Ironworkers Memorial Bridge or netting similar to what is in the works for the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
“There’s all kinds of risk for both the person who is in crisis and our officers as well, and we’re trying to mitigate that as best we can,” Dubord said.
New Westminster police Chief Const. Dave Jones is advocating for barriers to be added to the Pattullo when it’s replaced because of the frequency with which police are called to incidents on the bridge — every week — and how easy it is to access from populated areas in Surrey and New Westminster. New West police also have a boat that provides support when there are incidents at nearby bridges.
“It happens too often,” Jones said.
Although it would be nice to have suicide-prevention measures before the new bridge is built, Jones said he realizes that it’s not feasible engineering-wise. Instead, he will concentrate on lobbying to ensure the new bridge includes barriers.
“We understand that TransLink is looking at it within a new bridge structure, but we want to make sure this is a measure that is not cut from it,” he said.
According to figures from the B.C. Coroners Service, between 2006 and 2015, 2,738 people committed suicide in the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health authorities. Vancouver and Surrey had the highest number of suicides during that 10-year period.
B.C.-wide, 459 people committed suicide by fall or jump.
Almost 10 years ago, a provincial coroner’s report recommended that barriers be installed on five Metro Vancouver bridges: Ironworkers Memorial, Burrard, Granville, Lions Gate and Pattullo.
The province added barriers to the Ironworkers bridge two years ago and the City of Vancouver put them on the Burrard Bridge last year. The barriers cost $10 million and $3.5 million, respectively.
According to the B.C. Ministry of Transportation, barriers can’t be added to the Lions Gate, Port Mann and Alex Fraser because they can’t accommodate the additional wind load.
Instead, emergency phone boxes have been added to the Lions Gate and Port Mann. When asked if there are plans to explore other suicide-prevention methods on provincial bridges, a spokesperson said they couldn’t speak about future plans because of the current political uncertainty.
Wind load also prevents the installation of barriers on the existing Pattullo Bridge. TransLink spokesman Chris Bryan said suicide-prevention barriers will be included on the replacement bridge, which is expected to be complete by 2023. The cost of installing the barriers hasn’t been determined. The Golden Ears Bridge, another TransLink structure, was built with higher railings and phone boxes.
The City of Vancouver said it will investigate the option of fencing on bridges other than the Burrard “at such time when major upgrades for these assets are in the capital schedule.”
There’s all kinds of risk for both the person who is in crisis and our officers as well, and we’re trying to mitigate that.