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American Morning

Crisis Center Helps People Deal with Fear

Aired October 11, 2002 - 07:19   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It is impossible to live and work in this community and not be affected by what's happening throughout this entire Washington, D.C. area.
We are in Rockville, Maryland, essentially 30 miles north of the nation's capital. But even farther to the south and west of here, 40 miles down in Manassas, Virginia, we have seen the effects of this serial sniper killer: Nine days now, nine victims, seven people shot and killed, two others wounded as a result.

Let's talk about the people and the reaction they give and we gather. There's a local crisis center just about five minutes down the road from our location, and we stopped by yesterday to find out the questions people want to know and the answers they want to get, because right now for everybody here, this is uncharted emotional territory.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER (on camera): How many phone calls do you think you have taken?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today?

HEMMER: Yes, today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would say about 20-25.

HEMMER: Why does it affect people in a way where it frightens them to the point where they have to call you on a telephone, as opposed to the others, who are just going about their daily lives out here on the road?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because everybody has a different background, and everybody deals with crises in a different way and respond differently. Some people have had a lot of stresses in their lives. This is just pushing them over the brink. Other people have had losses, and they're afraid they're going to lose their family members.

People are just downright scared, because this is such unfamiliar territory. They have never been taught how to deal with this kind of crisis, because we've never been in it before.

HEMMER: We've never seen it before, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And so, they don't know how to respond. HEMMER: When you give advice about how to protect yourself, in a situation like this where there's so little evidence right now, the police are giving out very little information publicly, what kind of advice can you offer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think the chief of police, Chief Moose, has said that we can't protect and that we can't tell people how to protect themselves physically in this kind of situation. What we can tell them is how to protect themselves from the emotional impact, and we can tell them how to continue with their normal routines.

We can tell them how to reassure their kids and talk with their children and find out what are on their kids' minds, because the kids are the ones who probably are most directly affected. They're the ones who are everyday reminded of this, because they're in a code blue situation at school, the doors are locked, the blinds are drawn. So, they don't have their same routines the way that adults might have.

HEMMER: How is this, then, different?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's different, because it is so random. Everybody seems to be able to identify with the people who have been shot. This could be me; this could be my loved ones.

HEMMER: This is such an amazingly unique story. Do people ask you about that as well? Because I venture to be that no one has experienced anything like this before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's true. People are a little bit outside of their element. They don't know what to expect. I mean, it's a different kind of murder scenario than really ever unfolds, and certainly here in Montgomery County.

People -- and the other thing that makes it difficult is this is really what we call a no-low-point crisis, because it hasn't stopped yet. The kinds of things that we typically help people deal with happened and then stopped, and this is still -- we don't know where we are in it, whether we're in the middle or at the end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: The crisis center operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They have beefed up staffing. They say their calls already are up 25 percent.

The other thing they'll tell you, Paula, the therapists will say that oftentimes, especially for the adults, they don't quite absorb the magnitude of the story at this point, and many times once it's solved and we get past the resolution point, that's when it truly starts to hit a lot of people. The crisis center is working very hard again, as the number of people continue to make their calls there.

We are waiting on the police chief. We will hear from him in a matter of moments live here in Rockville -- Paula.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Bill. We'll check in with you in a little bit.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.






Aired October 11, 2002 - 07:19   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: It is impossible to live and work in this community and not be affected by what's happening throughout this entire Washington, D.C. area.
We are in Rockville, Maryland, essentially 30 miles north of the nation's capital. But even farther to the south and west of here, 40 miles down in Manassas, Virginia, we have seen the effects of this serial sniper killer: Nine days now, nine victims, seven people shot and killed, two others wounded as a result.

Let's talk about the people and the reaction they give and we gather. There's a local crisis center just about five minutes down the road from our location, and we stopped by yesterday to find out the questions people want to know and the answers they want to get, because right now for everybody here, this is uncharted emotional territory.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER (on camera): How many phone calls do you think you have taken?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Today?

HEMMER: Yes, today.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I would say about 20-25.

HEMMER: Why does it affect people in a way where it frightens them to the point where they have to call you on a telephone, as opposed to the others, who are just going about their daily lives out here on the road?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because everybody has a different background, and everybody deals with crises in a different way and respond differently. Some people have had a lot of stresses in their lives. This is just pushing them over the brink. Other people have had losses, and they're afraid they're going to lose their family members.

People are just downright scared, because this is such unfamiliar territory. They have never been taught how to deal with this kind of crisis, because we've never been in it before.

HEMMER: We've never seen it before, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And so, they don't know how to respond. HEMMER: When you give advice about how to protect yourself, in a situation like this where there's so little evidence right now, the police are giving out very little information publicly, what kind of advice can you offer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I think the chief of police, Chief Moose, has said that we can't protect and that we can't tell people how to protect themselves physically in this kind of situation. What we can tell them is how to protect themselves from the emotional impact, and we can tell them how to continue with their normal routines.

We can tell them how to reassure their kids and talk with their children and find out what are on their kids' minds, because the kids are the ones who probably are most directly affected. They're the ones who are everyday reminded of this, because they're in a code blue situation at school, the doors are locked, the blinds are drawn. So, they don't have their same routines the way that adults might have.

HEMMER: How is this, then, different?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's different, because it is so random. Everybody seems to be able to identify with the people who have been shot. This could be me; this could be my loved ones.

HEMMER: This is such an amazingly unique story. Do people ask you about that as well? Because I venture to be that no one has experienced anything like this before.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's true. People are a little bit outside of their element. They don't know what to expect. I mean, it's a different kind of murder scenario than really ever unfolds, and certainly here in Montgomery County.

People -- and the other thing that makes it difficult is this is really what we call a no-low-point crisis, because it hasn't stopped yet. The kinds of things that we typically help people deal with happened and then stopped, and this is still -- we don't know where we are in it, whether we're in the middle or at the end.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: The crisis center operating 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They have beefed up staffing. They say their calls already are up 25 percent.

The other thing they'll tell you, Paula, the therapists will say that oftentimes, especially for the adults, they don't quite absorb the magnitude of the story at this point, and many times once it's solved and we get past the resolution point, that's when it truly starts to hit a lot of people. The crisis center is working very hard again, as the number of people continue to make their calls there.

We are waiting on the police chief. We will hear from him in a matter of moments live here in Rockville -- Paula.

PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Bill. We'll check in with you in a little bit.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com.