GILL — Town officials and police who have been working to have surveillance cameras and other measures put in place to help prevent suicides on the French King Bridge will get their wish this week, according to the Massachusetts Department of Transportation.
Ryan Grannan-Doll, a spokesperson for MassDOT, told The Recorder Tuesday that the department has approved a project to construct a barrier “intended to prevent people from jumping off of the bridge.”
He said a consultant will design the barrier after meeting with a working group of officials from Gill, Erving, Montague, the Massachusetts State Police and area legislators, which has been meeting since 2014. That project is expected to cost about $663,000, Grannan-Doll said. He said the final form those barriers will take has yet to be determined. The bridge, built in 1932, spans 782 feet and is 140 feet above the river.
MassDOT also plans to install and begin testing a web-based mobile camera system at the bridge this week, the feed from which will be shared with the Erving Police Department, as well as other public safety personnel. Erving’s station is just down the Route 2 from the bridge, which spans the Connecticut River and been the scene of several suicide jumpers over the years.
Local officials have said that cameras would allow authorities to know whether someone has jumped from the span, whereas now they often search the river for hours at great expense when they only suspect someone has jumped.
“Deployment of the mobile camera will allow MassDOT to determine best placement for permanent cameras to provide the desired views and whether the system can meet the needs of the users in assessing reports of incidents at the bridge,” Grannan-Doll said.
Grannan-Doll said no cost estimate has been made for the camera system yet.
The decision follows nearly three years of meetings between the working group and years of incidents. Christopher Redmond, a Gill Police sergeant, previously told The Recorder he’s personally responded to more than 20 suspected suicides on the bridge since the early 1990s.
Earlier this month, an extensive manhunt was carried out after Plymouth murder suspect Tyler Hagmeier’s abandoned car was found parked near the bridge. It was unclear at the time whether he’d jumped from the bridge or left his car as a decoy to evade police.
Local law enforcement has said having cameras on the bridge during the incident could have enlighted them as to what really happened. Instead, police and emergency responders searched for Hagmeier for days and local residents were advised to stay vigilant and lock their windows.
Police also searched the river last week for another suspected suicide victim.
Local officials including Gill Selectman Randy Crochier also worry about the safety of the divers and rescuers who must search the river at all hours and in all sorts of weather.
“(Since the working group was formed) MassDOT has been working on the issue of deterring jumps from the French King Bridge and finding ways to prevent unnecessary searches,” Grannan-Doll said.
Local officials also said having cameras on the bring could quicken response times if someone does jump or appears likely to do so — possibly preventing it — and giving the suspected victim’s family peace of mind in knowing what happened to their loved one.
It could also save a lot of the money spent to conduct expensive searches by air, boat and land by showing immediately whether someone actually jumped, or simply wandered into the nearby trail system for a hike.
And besides the cost of the searches, Crochier previously told The Recorder he hopes the measures will help prevent an even greater loss in the lives of victims and first responders.
“There’s a major cost, and I’m hoping to prevent an even larger cost in loss of life,” Crochier said. “The Hagmeier incident was a perfect example of that.”
“I’m happy to see some progress being made forward,” said Gill Police Chief David Hastings. “At least we’ll be able to confirm (an incident) or improve safety for anyone going across the bridge. It’ll be a process. Right now, it’s really more in a testing process to see what type of angles we’ll receive, and there’s the clarity and a lot of other kinks to work out still.”
Grannan-Doll said MassDOT has also worked to address other concerns of the local communities brought up at the meetings. The department has posted “No Trespassing” signs on the bridge truss to allow police officers to enforce people staying off the structure beneath the bridge deck. Improvements have also been made to secure the bridge’s catwalk to deter unauthorized persons from accessing the underside of the bridge.
MassDOT also cleared vegetation from the area beneath the bridge to deter unauthorized activities.
On the far eastern side of the state, the Bourne and Sagamore Bridges over the Cape Cod Canal, both of which have been the site of numerous suicides, have both had preventive barriers — tall, curved fences — and cameras installed since the 1980s. The Samaritans, a group working to prevent suidcide and support those in emotional distress, led that effort, Grannan-Doll said.
The Samaritans can be contacted at: Samaritans at 877-870-HOPE, or www.samaritansusa.org/contact.php.
The National Suicide Prevention Lifeline can be reached at 800-273-8255.
You can reach Tom Relihan at:
trelihan@recorder.com
or 413-772-0261, ext. 264
On Twitter: @RecorderTom