Some police involved actually volunteer for the job of telling the relatives about their loss because it helps them personally with 'closure', but it is better that the liaison officers who work with relatives have not seen the body or the site of the crash.
Officers who believe they have done a good job need the least help after the event. Those who feel they have failed in some way are the ones who have problems afterwards. Unfortunately there is a culture in the police of always appearing to cope, though this is beginning to change.
There is a misconception that the people in the control room who can't do anything practical at the scene don't need help. But the very fact of not being able to do anything often affects staff greatly and they can need more help than those involved at the scene. It is not true that "unless you're involved in the mud and bullets you're not affected." Crucial questions, for example, are:
What about the drivers who take Officers to the scene?
In a potential suicide, who looks after the staff who take the calls and keep the person talking till the police/ambulance reach the scene?
A question that a chaplain faces is "shall I go to the scene?", quickly followed by "if I do how will I react?". The answer is individual, no-one should do things they don't want to do. A chaplain's presence at the scene of a tragedy or disaster seems to bring some sort of feeling of benefit, usually expressed as "oh, good, the chaplain's here." At the scene the chaplain is the one person who can stand alongside the incident commander and treat them as a human being.
For Bill, to be a chaplain in the emergency services is an incredible privilege, being allowed to be somewhere alongside people in difficult or dangerous situations.
And never forget, that the carer needs care too!
Disaster on the M6
Rev Bill Hopley, currently full-time chaplain to W. Midlands Police, led a session at the Chaplains' Conference which was entitled 'The M6 Disaster' but which he preferred to call 'The human dimension'. (This report of Bill 's session has been produced by Sheelah Stevens.)
The first half of the session covered issues about the work of a Police chaplain. It used to be that the local vicar ministered to the Police because policemen lived in police houses behind the Police Station and were a part of the parish community. These days this is not the case, hence the need for people to be appointed as chaplains, who are, to quote Bill, "guests in the workplace that the workplace are pleased to have around."
Bill saw the role of police chaplain as having 3 aspects to it:
1. THE MASCOT - someone wheeled out on important occasions to do things on behalf of the institution, to show that God is on the side of the Police; what Bill referred to as "reputation management". Examples of this included dedicating the force helicopter and force funerals. In the process the chaplain is putting the work of the police in the here and now into the context of eternity.
2. GREAT PROVIDER OF PASTORAL CARE - The force already has every sort of expertise available to it, doctors, psychologists, psychiatrists, counsellors, welfare, etc. But the chaplain is not an expert, s/he is a pastoral carer treating human beings as human beings should be treated - something which the institution doesn't always do.
3. LOITERING WITH INTENT - Simply being there, putting oneself about, not doing anything for or to anyone, having an office with an open door where no work gets done because of the people who feel a need to 'pop in'. Despite conversations that start "I'm not religious, but????.", the whole activity is spiritual but not 'religious'. It's about people responding to the spirit of others and the effect that has on our own spirit.
The Conference then watched a video of a television programme looking at a crash that happened on the M6 in January 1998 in which 3 people were killed. Chaplains often have to deal with staff who are involved in road deaths.
In this country the equivalent of a jumbo jet full of people is killed on our roads every month. A number of issues arose from the video. It was clear that staff never become hardened to it and are always affected by road deaths. Many of them, especially admin staff in the control centre feel 'useless' and find it difficult to know how to help the people who call in for information about loved ones.
