Micro-blog posts help police prevent suicide attempt

Police from Beijing and Jinan joined forces to prevent a citizen's suicide attempt on the early morning of Aug. 28 after a woman publicized her plans to end her life online.

In the last hour of Aug. 27, a netizen in Jinan decided she would kill herself and published more than 30 posts on her micro-blog to broadcast what she had thought would be the last hours of her life.

At that time, officers of "Safe Beijing," the official micro-blog of the Beijing police, learned that someone was going to commit suicide, and they quickly concluded that the Netizen was in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, according to her IP address. After that, Beijing police contacted Jinan police through micro-blog.

After being notified, Jinan police organized Web police and patrolmen immediately to locate the Netizen on the Internet and determine her home address. Around half past 10 a.m. on Aug. 28, police finally found where the netizen was, confirmed her safety and arranged psychological counseling for her.

At about 1 p.m., the netizen published another post on her micro-blog saying she was back in a normal mood and would not try to do something foolish again. Also, she apologized for the troubles she caused out of impulse.

By Wang Hanlu, People's Daily Online