'It doesn't get easier' for cops

[flashl]

Bearing bad news a hard job

As Stephanie Peaslee walked to her car after her shift at Albertsons ended just after midnight on Dec. 1, police cars pulled into the parking lot and surrounded her.

"I thought I was being arrested," she remembers thinking, "and I didn't know why."

Instead, Utah Highway Patrol Trooper Sean Cannon and other officers gave the Layton mother devastating news: Her 15-year-old daughter, Chelsea, had run across Interstate 15 at about 11 p.m., headed to Layton Hills Mall, and had been hit by a car and killed. The driver sped away.

The charge of notifying family members that a relative has died is one of the hardest duties troopers have - especially around the holidays. Yet troopers don't attend training or classes to learn how to deliver the news. The task is an exercise in sensitivity and professionalism taught by experienced troopers to junior troopers on the job.

Lt. Al Christensen, a 28-year UHP veteran who has broken news of a death in about 30 cases, said families are always told in person and as soon as possible so the news is not made to the family by a neighbor or a person who may have seen the crash.

"We think we owe it to them to meet them face to face," he said.

...

"You just come right out with it and deliver it as compassionately and deliberately as possible," Nordfelt said.

...

Before knocking on the families' doors, troopers try to contact a local clergy member or neighbor who can stay and lend support to a grieving family after they leave.

Once the news is delivered, the troopers remain to answer the families' questions. Nordfelt said the process can be therapeutic for troopers, who are also dealing with a heart full of emotions.

Salt Lake Tribuine - Read Full Text

[pinto]

1. That's got to be a tough assignment, yet one appreciated by family down the road.

To be told by anyone other than another family member takes a lot of tact. And I would assume hearing it from a bystander/stranger or the news would be the worst, rather than someone in an official capacity, whether it be law enforcement, medical staff or clergy.

[Occulus]

4. Seems to me this would be harder than facing a bullet n/t

[Rex]

2. Ugh, I feel for all the good cops out there.

What a hard job AND they have to fight against the criminal/stupid turds that make it into law enforcement.

[Name removed]

3. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Rex]

5. Really?

:popcorn:

[DS1]

7. bikes-and-guns is espanol for "I have no dick"

;-)

[Maine-ah]

9. move over

:popcorn:

[KG]

12. this is the guy the put the holes in the NC water tower.

:eyes:

[Rex]

22. Ha

Wouldn't surprise me. I predict a short stay and a long jump...

[DS1]

6. fuck off you ignornant shit

[Dawggie]

8. Very sad indeed. Did your mother have any children who lived?

[UndertheOcean]

10. WTF?

ALert , Alert !

[Rabrrrrrr]

11. And I wonder if it was a drunk white Family Values Republican with a child boy whore in the car

who was afraid to stop.

Or maybe just a drunk NASCAR asshole.

Or perhaps a high-on-crack Fundamentalist Preacher coming home from his weekly gay encounter.

[AlCzervik]

13. shouldn't you be burning a cross somewhere?

[I Have A Dream]

14. Did you hear that one from Rush or O'Reilly?

:eyes:

[AlCzervik]

15. klan rally.

[mtnester]

16. Crawl out of your hole much?

Thought not...begone!

[LeftyMom]

17. Did your sister tell you that during the afterglow?

:popcorn:

[Maine-ah]

18. omfg

:spray: :rofl:

[Ahpook]

26. Oh my...

:)

[Kingshakabobo]

19. Probably a bush supporter masturbating to kiddie porn and not watching the road.

[RainDog]

20. one time ET smacked the shit out of me.

that was when I really started to hate all extraterrestrials. nothing but a problem for humanoids.

[RetroLounge]

21. very sad

is shitwits like you with no fucking clue.

RL

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

23. Worthless and witless.

MKJ

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[redwitch]

27. Well, as YOU didn't have anything to do with the accident

she should just get over it, right?
As I have already said elsewhere, this site is for HUMANS!

[Garbo 2004]

28. That poster is no more.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=user_profiles&u_id=212350

[Wcross]

24. I could never be a peace officer.

I wouldn't want to deliver bad news to the next of kin. I would not want to see the remains of accident victims. I don't know if I would trust myself with arresting a particularly revolting suspect such as a child molester or drunk driver who had just killed a family.
They have a tough job, I appreciate the majority of peace officers. Thank you for doing what you do.

Hopefully they will catch the individual involved in this hit & run case. In my area they usually do find them by the damage to their cars. People notice that kind of stuff & report it. All it takes is a couple of nights on the evening news.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

29. I feel badly for the cop who had to tell my friend that her son had been killed...

It must be awful to deliver devastating news like this. I'm sure it's not the first duty that future law enforcement officers consider when they make the decision to join the force.

[cutlassmama]

30. I don't know why it took so many of them.

She, at first, was frightened out of her wits because there were so many of them, and then on top of it finds out this devastating news.

They really need to take her clergyman or a female counselor with them to break the news.