When a person sees no other way out because of seemingly unsolvable problems and wants to die voluntarily, this is usually the tragic climax of their long and painful ordeal. In far too rare cases, police officers are sometimes given the chance to avert this almost inevitable fate for the desperate just in time.
Personal contact with those who are tired of living, empathy, patience, concentration, determination and good teamwork are the keys to success in these cases.
In Oberhausen, a young police inspector and her colleague were given one of these rare opportunities completely unexpectedly on Friday (23 July). Their colleagues from the German capital had been informed by employees of a Berlin bank that a customer had announced this last step during a telephone call. As the woman was registered in our city, a patrol car crew from Oberhausen set off immediately after the call from their Berlin colleagues. Although they did not find the wanted woman at her home address, they found out that she was currently somewhere in Spain.
Family members gave them a telephone number, which the police inspector used to contact the woman, who already appeared sleepy and weak. She then confided to the policewoman that she had taken blood thinners and had injured her wrists. She had already lost a lot of blood and was now very tired.
During the phone call with the woman in Spain, her colleague passed on the information so that the LKA NRW and the Spanish police were involved in the search at the same time. The police inspector repeatedly managed to keep the conversation going and continue it. It then became clear that she was in a hotel room.
In the end, she managed to persuade the injured woman to leave her room and seek help. She then met a 19-year-old Spaniard in the hotel lobby, who immediately called the emergency services and then also took over the phone call with the Oberhausen policewoman.
When the Spanish colleagues officially reported that the Oberhausen woman was alive and had received the urgently needed medical care in a hospital, the tension of this 90-minute "rescue" operation also eased for her and her colleague.