Periodic Reporting for period 1 - DNR (Blended Learning Course for Police Students: Death Notification with Responsibility)
Reporting period: 2017-06-01 to 2018-11-30
Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project
Kirsten Mahlke & Melanie Brand (University of Konstanz, Germany)
Death Notification with Responsibility –
A Blended Learning Course for Police in Germany
In case of an unnatural death, police officers suddenly become death messengers. They have to communicate the bad news to the dead person’s relatives as soon as possible and as responsibly as possible. While the police may see this as a very unpleasant task that officers often try to avoid, it is a crucial aspect of police duty where much is at stake. In addition to the sudden loss, relatives of people found dead by accident or suicide, murder or drugs may suffer yet another trauma if the message is delivered in an irresponsible manner.
Nevertheless, only a few training hours have been devoted to this topic in police education in Germany so far. During our field study, many police officers complained bitterly about the lack of sound formation and continuous training in this field. Relatives reported undignified, belated, disrupted, or incomplete communication with the police. Cases that made the headlines like the Germanwings plane crash in 2015 or the terroristic attack at a Christmas market in Berlin in 2016 have shown, that death notifications pose a challenge to the police, in individual incidents as well as in major catastrophic events.
With our blended learning tool, which we have developed as ERC POC „Death Notification with Responsibility“ between June 2017-November 2018, we have developed the first multimedia learning application available to police training in Germany in that area. The need for teaching material that was both appealing and of the highest quality for police officers at any stage of their professional career is met by a combination of online learning and a handbook for classroom teaching. The aim of the blended learning training is to prepare the police in the best possible way for interaction with relatives after a sudden and unnatural death. Of course, every situation is individual and therefore remains somewhat unpredictable. But there are absolutely reliable elements that will help them to carry out their mission in a responsible manner. By providing information, averting dangers and protecting victims, police officers are able to minimize avoidable negative consequences - for their counterparts as well as for themselves.
Death Notification as Law Enforcement
The government mandate to transmit death notifications is not a side-issue of actual police work and it involves far more than ringing the doorbell and informing next of kin about the dead of a loved one. Indeed, it touches on core police responsibilities such as investigations, victim protection, and security.
Information: The Police is at the interface of the deadly event - all relevant information about what has happened and who was involved is gathered there. Nobody else is in a position to decide which information may be passed on in a specific case and which should be withheld for investigative reasons. On the one hand, all this information is juridically important to investigate the accident or the killing. On the other hand, this information is decisive for next of kin as the truth about the last minutes of a person’s life that ended in absence of his/her relatives. Relatives will ask questions like the following in order to try to understand and to believe what has happened:
Who was with the deceased when he died? Did he say anything? Did he suffer? Where is he now and when can relatives see the dead body?
By providing concrete information, the police make an essential contribution to relatives' grieving processes. With information about what happened and what happens next, the death notification and further communication between police and next of kin protects the bereaved from their own fantasy. Uncertainty produces horror fantasies. These should be avoided, even if the reality does not seem less cruel.
Security: Physical contact with the deceased is important in order to realise what otherwise remains ungraspable: that a loved one is suddenly no longer alive.
The police can act as a door opener in this respect: They can establish contact with the public prosecutor's office, the forensic institute, or the coroner, and thus give relatives access to the body of the loved one.
When people are confronted with the sudden and unnatural death of a loved one, they react in a variety of ways. From apparent indifference to physical breakdowns or even heart attacks, anything is possible. In this situation, it is important to assess possible dangers, to counter them and to react appropriately. People might rush off to the site of the accident site, even by car, although they are in a state of reduced perceptive faculty. If necessary, civil rights and liberties must be restricted in order to avoid endangerment of self and others.
Victim Protection: With Directive 2012/29/EU, the European Union introduced the extended concept of victim protection in 2012. The purpose of this Directive is to provide victims of criminal offences with adequate information, assistance and protection and to enable them to participate in criminal proceedings. (Chapter I, Art. 1.1)
Under this Directive, victims' relatives have the same rights as victims themselves. However, whether it is an accident, suicide or violent crime, information, support and protection are basic human needs in the context of a sudden and unnatural death. „It is possible that family members of victims are also harmed as a result of the crime. In particular, family members of a person whose death has been directly caused by a criminal offence could be harmed as a result of the crime. Such family members, who are indirect victims of the crime, should therefore also benefit from protection under this Directive.“ (Art. 2 (a) ii)
Whenever police investigations are under way, victims' relatives must be protected.
Course Structure
The development of the training material was carried out in close cooperation between cultural and social scientists of the University of Konstanz and project partners of the police and was financed by the European Research Council. Due to the delicacy of the content, the concept follows the understanding, that new educational approaches are needed to facilitate experience-based and reflexive learning.
The course is structured along the lines of police operations: a) First step (on site), b) delivery of the message, and c) follow-up. In addition a general introduction including topics like death and society is offered as a framing.
Since every death notification is different, this course does not offer a simple instruction, a recipe that fits every situation. By imparting knowledge, offering a change of perspectives and through encouraging self-reflection, the course provides police officers with tools to master the task responsibly and empowers them to feel well prepared and safer.
Quality Control
During a workshop on November 30th 2018, the e-learning component was tested and evaluated by 35 police officers in Kleve. Participants were diverse in age, gender and experience and also regarding their affinity with e-learning tools. Feedback was collected during the workshop face-to-face as well as via anonymised questionnaires that participants were handed afterwards. Taken together, the feedback was very positive and enthusiastic with regards to the e-learning design, usability, and the range and intensity of the topics covered. All of the participants stated that they would recommend the e-learning application to their colleagues.
Death Notification with Responsibility –
A Blended Learning Course for Police in Germany
In case of an unnatural death, police officers suddenly become death messengers. They have to communicate the bad news to the dead person’s relatives as soon as possible and as responsibly as possible. While the police may see this as a very unpleasant task that officers often try to avoid, it is a crucial aspect of police duty where much is at stake. In addition to the sudden loss, relatives of people found dead by accident or suicide, murder or drugs may suffer yet another trauma if the message is delivered in an irresponsible manner.
Nevertheless, only a few training hours have been devoted to this topic in police education in Germany so far. During our field study, many police officers complained bitterly about the lack of sound formation and continuous training in this field. Relatives reported undignified, belated, disrupted, or incomplete communication with the police. Cases that made the headlines like the Germanwings plane crash in 2015 or the terroristic attack at a Christmas market in Berlin in 2016 have shown, that death notifications pose a challenge to the police, in individual incidents as well as in major catastrophic events.
With our blended learning tool, which we have developed as ERC POC „Death Notification with Responsibility“ between June 2017-November 2018, we have developed the first multimedia learning application available to police training in Germany in that area. The need for teaching material that was both appealing and of the highest quality for police officers at any stage of their professional career is met by a combination of online learning and a handbook for classroom teaching. The aim of the blended learning training is to prepare the police in the best possible way for interaction with relatives after a sudden and unnatural death. Of course, every situation is individual and therefore remains somewhat unpredictable. But there are absolutely reliable elements that will help them to carry out their mission in a responsible manner. By providing information, averting dangers and protecting victims, police officers are able to minimize avoidable negative consequences - for their counterparts as well as for themselves.
Death Notification as Law Enforcement
The government mandate to transmit death notifications is not a side-issue of actual police work and it involves far more than ringing the doorbell and informing next of kin about the dead of a loved one. Indeed, it touches on core police responsibilities such as investigations, victim protection, and security.
Information: The Police is at the interface of the deadly event - all relevant information about what has happened and who was involved is gathered there. Nobody else is in a position to decide which information may be passed on in a specific case and which should be withheld for investigative reasons. On the one hand, all this information is juridically important to investigate the accident or the killing. On the other hand, this information is decisive for next of kin as the truth about the last minutes of a person’s life that ended in absence of his/her relatives. Relatives will ask questions like the following in order to try to understand and to believe what has happened:
Who was with the deceased when he died? Did he say anything? Did he suffer? Where is he now and when can relatives see the dead body?
By providing concrete information, the police make an essential contribution to relatives' grieving processes. With information about what happened and what happens next, the death notification and further communication between police and next of kin protects the bereaved from their own fantasy. Uncertainty produces horror fantasies. These should be avoided, even if the reality does not seem less cruel.
Security: Physical contact with the deceased is important in order to realise what otherwise remains ungraspable: that a loved one is suddenly no longer alive.
The police can act as a door opener in this respect: They can establish contact with the public prosecutor's office, the forensic institute, or the coroner, and thus give relatives access to the body of the loved one.
When people are confronted with the sudden and unnatural death of a loved one, they react in a variety of ways. From apparent indifference to physical breakdowns or even heart attacks, anything is possible. In this situation, it is important to assess possible dangers, to counter them and to react appropriately. People might rush off to the site of the accident site, even by car, although they are in a state of reduced perceptive faculty. If necessary, civil rights and liberties must be restricted in order to avoid endangerment of self and others.
Victim Protection: With Directive 2012/29/EU, the European Union introduced the extended concept of victim protection in 2012. The purpose of this Directive is to provide victims of criminal offences with adequate information, assistance and protection and to enable them to participate in criminal proceedings. (Chapter I, Art. 1.1)
Under this Directive, victims' relatives have the same rights as victims themselves. However, whether it is an accident, suicide or violent crime, information, support and protection are basic human needs in the context of a sudden and unnatural death. „It is possible that family members of victims are also harmed as a result of the crime. In particular, family members of a person whose death has been directly caused by a criminal offence could be harmed as a result of the crime. Such family members, who are indirect victims of the crime, should therefore also benefit from protection under this Directive.“ (Art. 2 (a) ii)
Whenever police investigations are under way, victims' relatives must be protected.
Course Structure
The development of the training material was carried out in close cooperation between cultural and social scientists of the University of Konstanz and project partners of the police and was financed by the European Research Council. Due to the delicacy of the content, the concept follows the understanding, that new educational approaches are needed to facilitate experience-based and reflexive learning.
The course is structured along the lines of police operations: a) First step (on site), b) delivery of the message, and c) follow-up. In addition a general introduction including topics like death and society is offered as a framing.
Since every death notification is different, this course does not offer a simple instruction, a recipe that fits every situation. By imparting knowledge, offering a change of perspectives and through encouraging self-reflection, the course provides police officers with tools to master the task responsibly and empowers them to feel well prepared and safer.
Quality Control
During a workshop on November 30th 2018, the e-learning component was tested and evaluated by 35 police officers in Kleve. Participants were diverse in age, gender and experience and also regarding their affinity with e-learning tools. Feedback was collected during the workshop face-to-face as well as via anonymised questionnaires that participants were handed afterwards. Taken together, the feedback was very positive and enthusiastic with regards to the e-learning design, usability, and the range and intensity of the topics covered. All of the participants stated that they would recommend the e-learning application to their colleagues.