Police One

How do police officers give news about a death?

I'm writing a novel and it starts out with a police officer giving news of a 17yr old mothers death. I'd like some help with this as it is not as emoitionally strong as id like it to be. Anyone's advice is helpful. link is below so you can read it for yourself. kamytompkins dot webs dot com slash midnightrose

Public Comments

1. This is pretty much the whole ball of wax..good luck with your novel!! http://www.emich.edu/cerns/downloads/papers/PoliceStaff/Miscellaneous/Death%20Notification%20and%20Survivor%20Support.pdf
2. well two leos in uniform would walk up to the door ask to come in and tell her shes dead. then explain carefully how it happened.
3. My department tries to use one of two 'Police Chaplains' that we retain for instances such as this. They are not truly sworn Peace Officers, but they do have a badge. (They are both actual clergy with their own churches and congregations.) They would go with an Officer to the home and deliver the notification. Exactly how that message is delivered would depend on the specifics of the case, but as you can imagine it is delivered as compassionately as possible by people who have a lifetime of experience dealing with such things. If the Chaplains are not available, Officers will do it themselves. Again, exactly how it is done depends on the circumstances, but the goal is to be compassionate and direct.
4. First, they don't give out any details until the family comes to identify the body. When my brother died, no one notified my parents. He was 35 years old. He didn't show up for work, so his boss called my parents wondering where he was. So my parents went to his house to find EMTs bringing him out on a gurney. The Police asked my parents who they were, and so they told him.
5. Jason's answer is good if the 17 year old's mother is a police officer involved in a line of duty (LOD) death or major injury. I think you are asking about violent death notifications of a civilian nature. If the family member is not around at the scene and someone has to be sent we send a two man man detective team. The detectives know something about the case and often are the ones working the case directly (it is a detectives job to also track down the next of kin). You always go in twos, even if you have to recruit an officer off the scene to help. If the detective notices that there may be some sort of religious or cultural problem they try to take the appropriate people with them, such as a officer or neighbor translator or making sure a female is along for certain groups. If the detective needs information about the victim you talk about that first, keeping the subject on the info needed. The detective also checks out the home and if the person is alone tries to find out who they would talk to for help. As soon as they can they make the actual notification. You make it clear and simple, no euphemisms. Your new victim goes through the normal stages, denial, fear etc. The notifier just allows this to go on and keeps answering the same questions over and over. When things are settled down you give answers again, this time they often hear the answers. You write down al kinds of contact info for the victim and inform them and whoever may have taken on the role as helper, usually a relative, of services available. If the dead victim has good ID there is not big deal about making an identification quickly, that is a device you writers use for tension I guess. We do advise they make an ID because it helps with closure but there is not immediate need. Even without ID a family friend can make the ID. If the death happened far away the local police are contacted via a nationwide police teletype system (the only way you know it is real). Two officers are sent to the home and give the person being notified the contact information of the requesting police. They stay until contact is made and the requesting police have made the notification. In my city we often send a sergeant who has detective experience and a patrol officer.
6. First, in the case of the 17 yr old, we would try to get in contact with an older relative or a close friend of the family before notifying her, once we have established that someone will be with her to comfort her, we will tell her of the tragedy, in the most professional way possible! We would give a victims packets, contains literature regarding grief counseling, compensation, and what she needs to do to get custody of the body and any personal items of the decedent!