Kansas City Police Department Line-of-Duty Death/Injury Notifications PDF

KANSAS CITY MISSOURI POLICE DEPARTMENT DATE OF ISSUE EFFECTIVE DATE NO. PROCEDURAL INSTRUCTION 09/05/2019 09/05/2019 19-07 SUBJECT AMENDS...

KANSAS CITY MISSOURI POLICE DEPARTMENT DATE OF ISSUE EFFECTIVE DATE NO. PROCEDURAL INSTRUCTION 09/05/2019 09/05/2019 19-07 SUBJECT AMENDS Line-of Duty Death/Critical Injury Notifications REFERENCE RESCINDS I. PURPOSE To establish procedures when notifying a member’s family in the unfortunate event of a line-of-duty death/critical injury. II. TERMINOLOGY A. Hospital Liaison Member – The first supervisor to arrive at the hospital. B. Notification Officer – Designated by the Chief of Police or the affected member’s Bureau Commander holding at least the rank of sergeant or title of supervisor. If the Chief or Bureau Commander is not immediately available to designate a Notification Officer, the senior ranking officer at the scene will do so. The Notification Officer is responsible for providing notice to the member’s family. III. PROCEDURE A. Members should be aware that in the event of an on-duty death the external monitoring of the police frequency may be extensive, particularly by the news media. Communications regarding notifications should be restricted to the telephone, whenever possible. The name of the affected member must never be released to the media before immediate family members living in the region are notified. If the media already has the member’s name they should be requested to withhold this information pending notification of the next-of-kin. B. A Notification Officer should follow the guidance below in situations involving line-of-duty deaths and in cases of critically injured members: 1. Timeliness takes precedence over protocol in the notification process. 2. When possible, notification must always be made in person and never alone. A police chaplain and Chief of Police or his designee shall appropriately accompany the Notification Officer. If a Police Chaplain is not immediately available, the senior ranking member at the scene will designate another member to accompany the Notification Officer.  3. If the opportunity to get the family member to the hospital prior to the death of the member presents itself, do not wait for the appropriate delegation to gather (i.e., waiting for the police chaplain, Chief of Police, etc., to arrive). C. Before contacting the family members, the Notification Officer should try to gather the following information about the incident: 1. A brief description of the incident/cause and location of death or injury to include whether a suspect believed to have caused the member’s death or injury has been apprehended, if applicable. 2. Approximate time of death or injury. 3. The location of the affected member and disposition of their personal property. D. The Notification Officer should be aware of the following: 1. Whenever the health of a family member is a concern, KCFD personnel shall be requested to stand-by at the location of notification. 2. As soon as a family member sees you, they will know something is wrong. Ask to be admitted into the location where you will be providing notification. Make a notification on the doorstep only if refused entry into the location. 3. If the member has already died, relay that information using words like “died” and “dead”, rather than “gone away”. DO NOT spark a false sense of hope. 4. The Notification Officer may be affected by the death; they should understand that showing emotions is perfectly acceptable. 5. Reactions of the family members may include hysteria, anger, fainting, physical violence, denial, shock, etc. 6. If the family member wants to go to the hospital they should be transported via police vehicle. It is highly recommended the family member not drive themselves to the hospital. Should there be serious resistance and the family member insists on driving, a member should ask to accompany/drive them in the family car. 7. Young children or persons with special needs may be present and the family member may wish to leave them at home. The Department should be prepared to handle immediate care needs. -2-  8. If possible the Notification Officer should notify, by phone, the senior ranking member at the hospital that the family is en route. 9. The Notification Officer will advise the Chief of Police or his designee of any notification they have made to a family member. E. The family may request the assistance of a specific Department member (close personal friend) to provide emotional support and to aid with the family’s understanding and familiarity with Department procedures. The Notification Officer will communicate this information to the senior ranking member as soon as possible. F. The Hospital Liaison Member is responsible for coordinating the following: 1. An area or room for immediate family members, the Chief of Police or his designee, the Notification Officer and only others requested by the immediate family members. 2. An area or room for fellow police members and friends. 3. A press staging area. G. The expression of raw emotion by anyone, including members, under these circumstances is perfectly understandable. Richard C. Smith Chief of Police Adopted by the Board of Police Commissioners this ___ day of_________ 2019. Nathan Garrett Board President DISTRIBUTION: All Department Personnel Department Master Index – Intranet Policy Acknowledgement SyStem (PASS) -3-