# The worst possible news:



## kwflatbed (Dec 29, 2004)

*Death notification and body identification for law enforcement officers*

By Dr. Laurence Miller

*Q: *Recently, we had a multiple-casualty incident involving a traffic pile-up due to a drunk driver, in which four civilians and one officer were killed. Many of the deceased were badly burned and a number of their relatives had to be located, as some of the victims were from out of town. A few of us were given the job of notifying the relatives, including the officer's family, and of accompanying two families to the morgue to make an identification. We really weren't sure how to handle this and I'm afraid it didn't go very well. Is there any way to make this horrible situation any easier?
*A: * No way something like this is ever going to be easy, but there are ways of making it _easier _on both the victims and the notifiers. The following recommendations apply generally to dealing with surviving family members of both deceased civilians and fellow officers who have died in the line of duty.

Full Article: http://www.policeone.com/health-fitness/articles/1267704/


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