Citation

Brockopp GW, Lester D. Crisis Interv. 1971; 3(2): 42-43.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1971, Suicide Prevention and Crisis Service)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The telephone number of an emergency telephone service must have a high degree of visibility if the service is to be accessible to those individuals who need it. One way to accomplish this is to have the service listed in the telephone directory in such a way that will assist an individual who is upset, anxious, concerned and over-wrought with anxiety to immediately locate the number of the appropriate service and to make the call with dispatch. To facilitate this process, many localities have the telephone number of emergency services listed together on the inside cover of the telephone directory. A recent survey of the telephone directories of 129 American cities revealed that a total of 17 different kinds of emergency services were listed on the inside cover.

It is interesting to note that not all of the cities list the police or fire department among the emergency numbers. Almost as many cities as include the police number include the number of the FBI although it is questionable whether this is really an emergency number. Most of the telephone books from the Southern states listed the Secret Service under this category while other areas included specialized numbers, like one for forest fires, tornadoes, or civil defense. As indicated in the chart, 25 of the 129 listed a suicide prevention service under emergency numbers or 19% of the total number of directories surveyed...

Keywords: Suicide prevention

Language: en