Abstract
Answering the door to have a stranger report the news of a loved one's death is one of the most traumatic human experiences. This is a life changing experience and the impact on the survivor is likely to be not only tragic, but permanent. Those whose job it is to perform death notifications are well trained, knowledgeable, and generally understand the complicated task of performing death notifications. Police officers, however, often untrained in the notification process are often called upon to perform this difficult task.
Statement of Problem
Police officers are highly trained to enter into and resolve a variety of complicated, and often dangerous situations involving citizens. However, when police officers are faced with the grim task of performing a death notification, they must confront and successfully perform in a compassionate way a task for which they may be insufficiently trained. Because officers may be untrained and unprepared to perform such a difficult task, they may exacerbate this difficult time in a survivor's life. In addition to the personal impacts of poorly handled death notifications, a lack of training for police officers in this sensitive area may erode the survivor's trust and confidence in the police.
Sources of Data
The examination of data included reviews of journals, periodicals, news articles, case studies, books, and literature contained in policies and procedures and training manuals of public and private agencies and organizations such as State Attorney General's Offices, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, (MADD) and other social service organizations. University databases at California State University Sacramento and Internet searches of government and private organizations were conducted. The
documents and information acquired for this study were obtained from such agencies as; The Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia, Bazetta Township Police Department Ohio, The Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime, Center for the Advancement of Health Washington D.C., U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, The National Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, training manuals for the establishment of nursing standards for the State of Ohio, Concerns of Police Survivors, Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress, U.S. Department of Justice, The National Victim Assistance Academy, The Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, The California Youth Authority, and Psychological Support International. Additionally, the following literature sources provided additional information Death Notification: A Practical Guide to the Process, Leash R. Moroni I'll never forget those words, a practical Guide to Death Notification, Lord and Stewart Death Notifications for Families of Homicide Victims; healing dimensions of a complex process, Spungen, Deborah
Conclusions Reached
Death notification training should be required for all police officers, but currently few police departments offer such training. Without proper training , performing death notifications may cause psychological harm to the survivors, and it may cause extreme stress to the officers involved. Everything should be done to make the notification process as compassionate and efficient as possible without creating harmful effects caused by mistakes made in administering the notification. These issues can be mitigated by effective training. This study has produced a training protocol to provide officers the knowledge, skills, and ability to perform appropriate and compassionate death notifications. This information will not only aid the survivors in their recovery from a tragic event, but will assist law enforcement officers in providing better service to the communities they serve.