On the same night police were rushing to the scene of a triple homicide on Tantalus, a couple jumped from the 32nd floor of a Waikiki building onto the street below. The Tantalus slayings covered the top of the front page the next day. Nothing about the suicides appeared in The Advertiser.

That prompted a reader to ask us why we didn't cover these suicides, or others, for that matter.

"I am not a conspiracy buff, so it's hard for me to imagine a political climate where any American newspaper would intentionally not report such an event," the reader wrote. "Are suicides not reported out of respect for the families involved? Are they not reported to protect the tourist industry in Hawai'i? Is the nonreporting of suicides some kind of urban myth? Please explain."

As a matter of course, our policy is to cover suicides sparingly. For the most part, these are private and tragic events that cause immeasurable grief for the families involved. It is usually not clear why the suicides occurred, and family members are often left wondering if there was something they could have done to prevent them. We are not interested in adding to their pain.

But what happens when the suicides are committed in public places with dozens of people around to watch? How does a newspaper ignore that, and if it does, are readers to conclude that we didn't know what happened or that we were trying to hide the information?

The answer is not easy.

In 2003, a 44-year-old woman committed suicide by jumping from the Queen Emma Street overpass onto H-1 below, tying up traffic for hours. The incident received wide media attention, mostly from TV news. The Advertiser chose not to report it. One week later, another woman jumped to her death from the Pali Highway overpass onto H-1. The police would not classify it as a copycat suicide, but it was hard not to see the similarity. The Advertiser did run a brief item on the latter incident because the two attempts occurred so close together and the second appeared to mirror the first.

We do know that broad coverage of a suicide attempt can lead others to try the same thing, as the example above indicates. Dan Galanis, epidemiologist for the Injury Prevention and Control Program of the state Department of Health, said he did some research a few years back on two cases in which the occupants of separate residences killed themselves about a week apart by intentionally setting their houses on fire. He concluded they were copycat cases.

But Galanis also pointed out that not reporting on suicides leads to lower public awareness and may undercut the severity of the problem. For instance, even though in Hawai'i there's been a recent average of 1,400 suicide attempts each year that resulted in hospital and emergency room visits, Galanis believes the number is much higher because hospitals are conservative in making a definitive suicide link to certain conditions like drug overdoses.

How the media portray suicide also is tricky. Giving specific details of the suicide attempt can make others want to try. Dramatizing suicide by showcasing grieving relatives might appeal to someone contemplating a try who is also seeking attention. Studies show that younger people are particularly suspectible to media images of suicide, especially on TV or in movies.

So to get back to our reader's original questions: Yes, we cover suicides, but for the most part, only when they are in public places; yes, we take into consideration the families involved; and no, we're not trying to protect the tourism industry by concealing suicides. In the case of those who took their lives in Waikiki, we had dueling priorities, and the Tantalus shooting required our full attention.

But suicide is not to be taken lightly. Even though we're at the national average of about 11 suicides per 100,000 residents, nearly 130 people die from suicide each year in Hawai'i. It is the third leading cause of mortality in the Islands and the third leading cause of injury-related hospitalizations that do not result in death.

Done so sensitively and devoid of sensationalism, our coverage must continue in this area.