Antony Gormley

Police are trying to reassure New Yorkers that life-sized figures placed on rooftops by the British sculptor Antony Gormley are not people contemplating suicide.

The New York police department issued a statement after the first of the 31 figures started going up around Madison Square Park in lower Manhattan.

The police are trying to avert a spate of emergency calls similar to those made after the exhibition went on display in London in 2007.

"We were notified because of concerns the public might misperceive what they see and call police. We will respond no matter what because you can have an actual jumper at the same building," a police spokesman said.

The 6ft (1.8m) iron and fibreglass sculptures are bodycasts of Gormley.

There will be 27 on rooftops and ledges and four will be placed at ground level around Madison Square Park.

Gormley said: "I want to play with the city and people's perceptions. My intention is to get the sculptures as close to the edge of the buildings as possible."

The first sculpture of the $400,000 (£266,000) installation, called Event Horizon, was put on the building that houses the New York office of Pentagram Design.

"We have a new staffer here at our offices at 204 Fifth Avenue; he doesn't say much, and spends most of his time up on the roof, gazing at the skyline," the company said.

Ryan Matthews told the local television station WCBS: "You think it's someone going to jump, someone standing on the edge. It's kind of creepy."

Sara Fitzmaurice, a spokeswoman for the Madison Square Park Conservancy, which is sponsoring the installation, said: "We feel very confident that New Yorkers and others that are in the area will understand that these are sculptures."