KNOWING OUR TRADITIONS by John Cooley

I recently read a newspaper article where the author recommended that a class on traditional law enforcement funeral customs be presented in the basic academy. He acknowledged that he knew it would be difficult to do but emphasized that new officers need to know and understand the traditional ceremonies used to honor our fallen. I couldn’t agree more. However, having worked at an academy, I know that changing the curriculum is difficult. If anything new is coming in, something old has to go out, and if it’s not mandated by law or POST then it’s even more difficult to find time for it. But this doesn’t mean we can’t find a way to educate officers about the traditional ceremonies and customs associated with a law enforcement funeral, especially a line-of-duty funeral.

When and how?

Once we decide to inform and educate officers, when should we do it and how should it be done? There are several options. We can provide training during National Police Week, on an anniversary date of an agency officer being killed, or when an officer has been killed either at an agency or close enough where representatives will be sent to the services.

I think an excellent time to educate officers is when a death occurs within their agency, because they are going to be intimately involved in the services and ceremonies or if a death has occurred within their region, especially if their agency will be represented. They now have a vested interest in the traditions and ceremonies.  

If a death occurs within an agency there should be roll call training on the historical ceremonial traditions that will be provided and that they will participate in for their officer, as well as the newer elements that have become popular, and anything special or unique that will be occurring. This training should be taught by the agency’s honor guard supervisor or a member of the unit and should include comprehensive handout material.   

If officers from an agency will be attending the services for another agency, they definitely should know and understand what they will be watching and participating in. Again, roll call training for everyone would not be inappropriate. But, for those actually attending, they should have a special briefing and training on the honors ceremonies they will likely experience.

Understanding Traditions

I won’t go into a historical explanation of the typical honors ceremonies and customs because there are resources available that provide that information. But, officers should be knowledgeable and understand how our law enforcement traditions came about, they should know about the casket flag and 13-step flag fold, Taps, and how the three-volley salute began. They should know about bagpipers, the riderless horse, and the helicopter missing-man formation fly over. They should know about the last radio call. They should understand the symbolic gesture of officers passing by the casket and placing white gloves or flowers on the casket. They should know that rendering a hand salute is part of an honorable ritual important to these ceremonies. They should understand that even though law enforcement is steeped in its funeral traditions that the family may add special events or gestures to these traditional honors ceremonies that we may not understand or agree with and that these personalized events do not detract from the importance or dignity of the law enforcement honors ceremonies.

Training officers about funeral traditions and honors ceremonies is important. But any endeavor to educate officers would be better received and retained if it is associated with a need to know and understand, unfortunately the death of an officer. It should not be a one time event. Every time an officer is killed in the line-of-duty locally and officers will be attending, a special briefing for them and roll call training for everyone else. If an officer within an agency is killed, special roll call training and special briefings for all personnel.

Another alternative is to have an agency wide training program every May during Police Week or the anniversary date of the last officer killed in the line-of-duty. Again, officers have a vested interest in the traditional honor ceremonies and most agencies have some sort of remembrance or recognition ceremony or will send representatives to a county or state ceremony. Merely lining officers up in a formation and having a chaplain and chief speak and then have the honor guard perform the traditional honors ceremony and then dismissing everyone does not foster a sense of understanding or truly validate the importance of these ceremonies.
We can not allow our traditional police funeral honors ceremonies to become merely an exercise in standing and saluting and watching without comprehending or understanding the significance and historical perspective of the ceremonies.   

But we cannot forget or overlook the surviving family of a deceased officer either. We typically tell them that there will be an honors ceremony and that’s it. We need to do more. We need to give them a comprehensive explanation of the ceremonies and their traditional roots. They need to understand what each element represents. They need to understand and appreciate how important the ceremonies are to, not only them but, the members of the involved agency and the law enforcement community. Again, the best presenter should be the honor guard supervisor or a member of the unit.

Families and officers who attend a line-of-duty funeral may forget the words they hear but they never forget the ceremonies. Our objective is to insure they understand them as well.

John Cooley
Policefunerals.com