Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement

In this episode, we will kick off the theme for the month of January of proper death notification procedures. This episode is a replay of an online course that described the proper procedure for notifying families of the death of a loved one.

Death notification is acknowledged to be one of the most difficult tasks faced by law enforcement officers and other professionals because learning of the death of a loved one often is the most traumatic event in a person’s life. The moment of notification is one that most people remember very vividly for the rest of their life -- sometimes with pain and anger.

These are some of the cardinal principles of death notification. Some of the points overlap, and all will be refined by the notifier’s experience and judgment.

Read the complete article at https://coronertalk.com/death-notification---best-practices‎

In this episode, the last of 2019, I discuss changes that are taking place in the new year. The podcast will go to monthly themes so we can dive deeper into training topics rather than bounce around through random unconnected topics.

We also discuss the improvements and changes being made to the Medicolegal Death Investigator Online Academy Course. This course has been moved to a new platform and many improvements have been made to the course design and available material. Check out the course at this link: https://www.ditacademyonline.org/

Also, I talk about the thought that "What we do Matter". What I do matters and what you do matters in the work we do. Everyone at the Coroner Talk Podcast understands that we make a significate influence in the area of death investigation and we do not take that lightly. What we do matter to investigators, families, and case outcomes. What you do everyday matters fo the same reasons.

Welcome to 2020, the year of clear vision. I truly thank you for coming along in the ride with me and look forward to a great year.

This Christmas and during this season I would like to wish every one of you a Blessed Christmas and Holiday Season. Regardless of your religious faith Christmas is a season for giving and giving back. Its a season to remember those less fortunate than us and to bring some happiness to someone's life.

I would also like the thank each of you listening and reading alike. It is because of you that I do what I do. I truly thank you and want to help in any way I am able.

Merry Christmas and God Bless.

Darren

In August 1997, sixteen year-old William Jenkins was on his second day of work at a fast-

food restaurant in suburban Richmond, Virginia when the restaurant was robbed at closing time.

While cooperating fully with the robber, William was shot and died instantly. His father, Bill Jenkins, quickly found that there were virtually no readily available resources that could answer his many questions as a survivor of a traumatic loss.

He began looking for help and found it, after a fashion, scattered in the bookstores, on the

Internet, and in support groups and agencies. But nowhere was there a single, concise, practical, and eminently useful resource for bereaved families written by victims for victims containing the advice and guidance that he and his family needed following their loss. Several months later, using the information he had collected for his own personal well-being, this experienced teacher and speaker sat down to write the book that he should have received the night he was notified of his son’s death, What to do When the Police Leave: A Guide to the First Days of Traumatic Loss.

This landmark book on grief and bereavement quickly became an important resource for families dealing with the sudden or traumatic death of a loved one and the caregivers who work with them. Now, a recognized expert on victims and trauma, Bill has served on the boards of directors for Murder Victims for Human Rights, the National Coalition of Victims in Action, and is the founder, along with his wife, Jennifer Bishop, of IllinoisVictims.org, a statewide victim rights watchdog group. He is also active in many other victims’ rights and support activities and organizations, has been an instructor with the Virginia Institute of Forensic Science and Medicine, leads seminars on victims’ perspectives for national organizations such as the National Center for Victims of Crime, the National Organization of Victim Assistance, and Parents of Murdered Children and also addresses local and regional conferences for law enforcement and victim advocates. He and his wife also speak at victim impact panels for youthful offenders and in support of funding for programs for children and young people that are proven to decrease crime.

In 2006, Bill received the Edith Surgan Victim Activist of the Year award from the National

Organization of Victim Assistance, a singular honor that recognizes to his expertise in the field and his commitment to making society more sensitive to victims’ rights and needs. In 2019, he was awarded the prestigious John Gillis Leadership Award by Parents of Murdered Children.

Bill has also written a full-length play, Hearts Full of Tears, that has been produced by two

professional theatre companies so far. It deals with the emotional struggle of a family dealing with the shooting death of their teen-aged son. Critical and audience reviews have been very positive.

Returning to his educational roots and love of biology, his latest research is in the neurobiology of trauma and stress, how our brains respond to traumatic experiences, and what treatments are most helpful to victims and their families. He hopes that his own personal perspective and unique voice using the latest authoritative scientific discoveries will help victims understand how their brains respond to crisis and inform caregivers how best to help trauma victims in their work. Bill is a professional artist and educator at the college level for over 25 years, he currently teaches and designs for the theatre program at Dominican University near Chicago, IL.

An asphyxial death refers to a multi-etiologic set of conditions in which there is inadequate delivery, uptake and/or utilization of oxygen by the body’s tissues/cells, often accompanied by carbon dioxide retention. This episode will introduce the listener to the four primary classifications of asphyxial deaths, which are; mechanical, inert-gas, environmental, and pathological.   The podcast will cover each classification and describe how the deaths occur and what investigators need to know to properly determine death due to asphyxial means.

A common form of suicidal asphyxia is caused by the use of inert-gas.  These deaths may also be accidental when located in an area compromised by a high level of gas.  An inert gas is a gas that has no toxic or anesthetic properties and does not act upon the heart or hemoglobin. Instead, the gas acts simply to reduced oxygen concentration in the blood to dangerously low levels, thereby eventually depriving all cells in the body of oxygen.

Some common inert gases are;

• Argon
• Halon
• Helium
• Nitrogen
• Methane

This podcast also covers the asphyxial death classification of environmental asphyxial death. Environmental Asphyxia is due to insufficient oxygen in the environment. Deaths are almost always accidental. An oxygen concentration of 16% or less is dangerous, and with 5% concentration, consciousness is lost rapidly and death occurs within a few minutes. Environmental asphyxia deaths are typed in four manners:

1. Confined Space
2. Positional
3. Compression
4. Entrapment or Engulfment

The final classification discussed in this course is pathological asphyxia. Pathological is dealing with or attributable to disease or medical condition.  These asphyxial deaths are caused by such things as anaphylaxis, pulmonary edema, and COPD.

In this episode, I answer several listener questions and discuss some upcoming training that I will be a student in.  Plus, we look forward to the 2020 training schedule.

In this episode I speak with Venessa Tanner. Venessa shares her story of becoming a Death Investigator and getting a job with the local Sheriff’s office as a DI. Her story is one that many can relate to as she struggled to find an open door and anyone who would listen to her.

Through research and conversation with local agencies she found the online training at the Death Investigation Academy and through that training and interaction with instructors, doors started to open for her.

I may enjoy her story and may find a little of your own journey in their too.

*****

Also, in this episode I give my opinion to the question; Did Epstein commit suicide.

Find out more about the training you can get at the Death Investigation Academy by clicking this link:   trainingme

In this episode I play for you a recording from a presentation I gave at a session of the True Crime Conference in St. Charles Missouri. 

A prevalent concern, but under-recognized, a public health problem of distressing and harmful resident-to-resident interactions in dementia in long-term care homes (LTC) (such as nursing homes and assisted living residences), is a major issue facing many countries today.  This increase can, in part, be attributed to the growing population of older adults from the Baby Boom generation. These resident-to-resident incidents frequently lead to injurious and fatal consequences for vulnerable and frail elder residents.

For various reasons, these incidents are often underreported inside and outside the LTC home (such as to the Department of Health/state regulatory agency, police, and Coroners/Medical Examiners). Death investigators should play a critical role in timely and skilled investigations of these incidents. However, serious gaps in resources and training are a major barrier to change as they are the reality for many Coroner and Medical Examiner Offices and Law Enforcement Departments in the U.S. and abroad.

Improved communication and timely collaboration between external agencies is essential to addressing this phenomenon more effectively. A timely and skilled investigation can assist tremendously in determining the cause of death (which is critically important to family members of the deceased) and can also inform policy, legislation, systemic efforts, and training programs aimed at preventing similar tragic incidents in the future.