Death notification: breaking the bad news; Why does to little training exist for the most grim job in law enforcement?

A suicide driver traveling at high speed crosses the center divide intentionally and rams head-on into an 18-wheeler in the pre-dawn hours of a Sunday on a rural highway.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

A 54-year-old pedestrian is run over and killed in a crosswalk returning from lunch early on a Tuesday afternoon in front of her urban office.

A high school basketball player is stabbed to death outside a busy suburban pizza house on a Friday night after a game.

All of these events have two things in common. Someone died violently and unexpectedly, and police officers will most likely be required to make the death notification to the next-of-kin. About 45,000 people are killed in automobile accidents in the United States every year, another 32,000 commit suicide and 17,000 more are victims of homicide.

Death notification is considered by police officers to be the least desirable job they have. It is also the one for which they are the least trained.

The Association for Death Education and Counseling, a 2,000-member organization composed of mental and medical health providers, educators, clergy and others, recently funded a University of Georgia study to evaluate the effectiveness of educating law enforcement officers in death notification.

Principal investigator Brandon Register states he hopes results of the study will compel lawmakers and police departments to reevaluate the way in which death notifications are performed, which will aide both officers and the public.

Emotional drain

Performing death notifications is physically and emotionally exhausting.

Officers are expected to express the right words, anticipate and understand family emotions, and respond with empathy. The delivery of a notification will likely remain etched in the family memory forever. It also stays with the officer; most can remember their first notification, in detail, years later.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

When done wrong, notifications leave families with the perception that police officers are callous, thoughtless and insensitive. A …