MULTIPLE LINE-OF-DUTY DEATHS

As a police funeral coordinator I was very interested about the funeral services and ceremonies for the four officers killed in Oakland and the three officers killed in Pittsburg. I have managed two multiple death funerals, so I can appreciate all the planning that goes into these types of events.

Multiple deaths, usually two officers, occur more often then most people think. But having three or four officers killed in the same incident is uncommon, not including the September 11th, 2001, terrorist attack. My informal research showed that in the last 10 years (1999-2008) there have been 44 incidents of multiple deaths of officers, 43 incidents involved two officers and one, in 2007, three officers.

An average of four incidents or eight officers killed per year out of an average of 115 officers (not including 9/11) killed per year. Gunfire was the cause of death in 26 incidents, traffic collisions in 12 incidents, aircraft accidents for four incidents and two can best be classified as “other.”

Although the likely hood of a multiple death may be remote, as statistics show us, they do occur on a far too regular basis. Agencies need to be prepared to respond to the death of an officer from any reason; illness,accident, suicide, or line-of-duty. Agencies need to understand that a multiple death may occur as unexpectedly as any other type of death. Their contingency plans need to recognize this potential and be included in their agency protocols.

Multiple deaths, regardless if it is two, three, four or more, may require the funeral planning team to deal with individual viewings and funeral services simultaneously. They all need to be integrated into one master plan. Then there is the combined police memorial service and ceremonies that needs to be integrated into the planning schedule. Then there will be individual interments.

Managing and coordinating all these events is difficult enough but then there are the potential religious issues and protocols that need to be included. And, finally, meeting the needs of the families, the agency members and their families, the law enforcement community, and the community the officers served and resided in.

And let’s not omit the political issues that are included, typically how will the invitations from dignitaries to attend and speak be handled. With more than one family and the agency involved in the decision making process it can easily become a very difficult issue to resolve.

And then try to keep the memorial service to a reasonable time limit. There are so many needs and tasks that need to be identified, evaluated, and managed.

The planners and managers need to work with the surviving families and give guidance and direction, not instructions. They need to help people involved make difficult decisions, not make them for them. They need to insure that the families and people involved are aware of and understand all their options and ramifications of their decisions so that they can make the best decisions, not just a decision.

Police are by nature problem solvers and decision makers and it is often easier for coordinators and managers to take charge and make decisions rather than seek out and meet people’s needs and wishes. The families needs, and this includes the agency police families,are always paramount.

From what I saw on television and read in the newspapers and on the internet the planning teams in Oakland and Pittsburg are to be commended for a job well done. What a daunting responsibility to assume. All while their agency members were grieving individually and collectively. They not only had to plan for but their agency members had to participate in the memorial service and attend several days of individual viewings, funeral services and interments.

Agencies need to be prepared for the unthinkable, the death of an officer in the line-of-duty. Their preparation needs to include the potential for a multiple death incident. Planning a multiple death funeral is more than just a series of individual funeral services and a police memorial. It is a multi-faceted complicated event with each part integrated into the other,all equally important.

John Cooley

Policefunerals.com