Reflections of a Police Staff Investigator

In my current role as a police staff investigator, I support my local Criminal Investigations Department (CID) by taking on coroner enquiries, progressing the majority of cases to the coroner’s court. The coroner will usually expect to see a report from the police including witness statements.

For the purposes of this blog post, I can only speak of what I see and hear in my own city. My understanding is that the role of the police and the role of coroners’ officers vary across the board and even from one local authority to another which cannot be good practice.

The police quite often play a crucial part in the process of investigation of a sudden, unexpected or unnatural death from the point of arrival at the scene of a reported death through to the inquest.

The police are often the first present when the death is reported and if the circumstances lead to an inquest, the officer in the case will have varying levels contact with the bereaved families through to the actual inquest.

Now that I am at the stage where I have reported to the coroner on close to 300 occasions, I see that there is still a long way to go regarding the families’ experiences of death investigations.

I constantly hear accounts of not enough support available from bereavement organisations. Most of the people that I speak to cannot afford private counselling. We are fortunate in my area to have an excellent charitable support organisation for families who have lost someone to suicide.

These factors are all governed by funding and of course there is no easy answer.

I would like to focus on the Voicing Loss researchers’ interest in the use of pen portraits or antecedent statement, as they are often referred to. This is one of my key requirements. I speak to the families about the points that are needed to be covered for the coroner’s needs but also always ensure that families have the opportunity to include their own say of what the person was like and to talk about their character. This is vitally important when it comes to humanising the inquest. However, I am often outraged to find that the local press focus on unsavoury details that are occasionally sure to arise during an inquest. This can be devastating to bereaved families.

I am pleased to report that since my interview for the Voicing Loss study, the coroner’s court where I work has introduced a volunteer team from the Coroners’ Courts Support Service, which is always appreciated and valuable. My overriding opinion regarding all of the people I know in the coronial process, is that we are inspired to do our job out of respect and for the dignity of the people who have died, and also for the same reasons for the families who are bereaved by their loss. Under staffing is a major issue in the coronial process and should be taken into account. Many of my families find themselves waiting far too long for the inquest.