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

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

June 28, 2015 Forensic Video Production - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement
In most cases it’s as much, or more, about the technique than the equipment when it comes to crime scene videography. Forensic video production is valuable for showing an overview of the crime scene and should be considered in major cases. While video cannot replace still photographs due to its lower resolution, video does provide an easily understandable viewing medium that shows the layout of the crime scene and the location of evidence. Videos of crime scenes are not often used in court, but they are valuable illustrations for explaining the scene to other investigators and are often used to refresh the memory of those who were involved in processing the crime scene.
Crime scene videotaping techniques
When videoing crime scenes, you should start the video with a brief introduction presented by an investigator. The introduction should include the date, time, location, type of crime scene, and any other important introductory information. The introduction should also include a brief description of the rooms and evidence that will be viewed in the video. The investigator may want to display a basic diagram as an illustration during the introduction.
Following the introduction the recording is paused and the microphone is turned off. This will prevent any distracting sounds from recording on the video during the recording of the scene. Begin videoing the crime scene with a general overview of the scene and surrounding area. Continue throughout the scene using wide angle and close up views to show the layout of the scene, location of evidence, and the relevance of evidence within the crime scene. While videoing, use slow camera movements such as panning, and zooming.
In-camera editing is an ideal way to produce crime scene videos. In this method you start and stop the recording at the angles and areas you want. This prevents distractions and distortion of moving around and fast zooming. Editing software can then seamlessly put these clips together for a complete overall video production.
Equipment
Many departments and agencies can not afford high-end commercial use cameras for forensic video production. That’s perfectly fine, smaller cameras and even iPhone / iPads can be used to produce high quality video production of your crime scene. In most cases it’s as much, or more, about the technique than the equipment when it comes to crime scene videography.
Training
It is critical investigators get some training in proper forensic video production techniques. These classes are not offered as much as still photography courses. However, it is critical you find these courses. If courses in this area of crime scene processing are not found in your area then search out those people who produce video for other fields, such as television camera operators and wedding videographers. Techniques and camera familiarization can be learn from these professionals and you can adapt what you need for your use.
Above all – try. Your first crime scene video may not be of the standards you wish it be be. However, with each time, and practice on non-crime scene shoots, you will improve with each shoot.
Episode Guest
On this episode of the Coroner Talk™ podcast I talk with Scott Alan Kuntz of Scott Alan Video LLC. Scott is an active law enforcement officer and owns his own company helping other agencies in training and consulting work. More about Scott and how he can help your agency can be found at:
http://www.scottalanvideo.com

1 hr 2 min
June 21, 2015 Investigating Gun Shot Wounds - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement
Certain routine steps are taken in investigating fatal injury inflicted by a firearm either as a result of foul play or accident.’ A fatal gunshot case presents many challenging medicolegal problems which involve cooperation among the forensic pathologist, firearms identification expert, laboratory technician and the police. The belief that an “expert” can view the body and without further corroborating evidence testify in court as to the range at which this person was shot and the calibre of the weapon is one of the most common fallacies.’ Since the average person interested in law enforcement is generally not trained in medicine it seems best to discuss the information which can be obtained from an examination of a gunshot victim’s body. Suppose a male corpse is brought to a coroner’s office for the purpose of identification and determination of cause of death. First, it must be established whether or not the individual has been shot and, secondly, whether or not the gunshot was the cause of death. If no projectiles can be found in the body through X-ray or exploration, the question of whether the individual has been shot is by no means resolved. For example, multiple wounds inflicted by an ice pick in the back oftentimes gives the appearance of buckshot wounds. Bullet wounds, from external appearance, are of two types; entrance and exit.
Few injuries resulting from the discharge of a firearm rule out the possibility of foul play. Firearms identification is also known as “forensic ballistics.” However, since the science of ballistics relates to the study of projectiles in flight the term firearms identification seems preferable. A review of the leading American text, Hatcher, Jerry & Weller, Firearms Identification, Investigation and Evidence, Stackpole Company, Harrisburg (1957), should quickly dispel any doubts on this matter.
For an excellent discussion of the historical role of the coroner in identifying deceased persons see Harvard, The Detection of Secret Homicide, Cambridge (1960). Smith and Glaister, Recent Advances in Forensic Medicine, Blakeston’s, Philadelphia (1939) ch. 1, contains a variety of material on the mechanics of gunshot injury. The use of X-ray examination to locate projectiles or fragments of pellets is particularly important where the investigator wishes to weigh the bullet in order to have some approximation of caliber. Smith and Glaister, op. cit. supra n. 5 at 20. Published by EngagedScholarship@CSU, 1964 1 FATAL GUNSHOT WOUNDS.
On this Episode
On this show we talk to Dr Judy Melinek about the issues in investigating gun shot wounds. We talk about types of wounds and what obstacles investigators can encounter in a fatal shooting incident.

Article Reprinting from Section of: Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology
1 hr 15 min
June 07, 2015 Panel Discussion – Wrongful Convictions in Shaken Baby Death Cases - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement
Much has been said about the science and medical findings in Shaken Baby Deaths. Now new, or not so new, opinions say the injuries to the brain which is used as fact evidence is not accurate. This panel discusses these issues and the investigation that goes into these deaths. The panel members are Craig Smith of C.B. Smith Training & Consulting Ltd. in Canada, Paul Parker of Parker Medicolegal Services in Arizona and Dr. Judy Melinek of the Alameda County Coroners Office in California. All panelist contact information is located below.
What started this discussion was a recent article written for CBS News that shed doubt on the medical findings of a Shaken Baby Cases and whether or not those finding have lead to the wrongful conviction of parents and care givers in these cases. That article is reposted below again for review. This panel does not and did not intend to discredit the writer of this article or CBS News. The intent was to discuss this opposing opinion and bring light to the need for accurate and complete investigation so that medical findings alone are not disputed. The panel does an amazing job at bringing out every aspect of this discussion.
Resource talked about on the show
Mr. Craig Smith referenced at report generated by the National District Attorney Association that outlines defense objections to head trauma injuries. That publication can be found here and downloaded for free.
National District Attorney Association
Panelist Contact Information
Craig Smith
Paul Parker
Dr. Judy Melinek

By DEBORAH TUERKHEIMER CBS NEWS February 26, 2015, 11:34 AM
Questionable convictions in “shaken baby” cases?
Deborah Tuerkheimer is a Professor of Law at Northwestern University and the author of “Flawed Convictions: ‘Shaken Baby Syndrome’ and the Inertia of Injustice.” She also appears onSaturday’s “48 Hours” investigation into the case of Melissa Calusinski, a former day care provider who says she is wrongfully convicted in a toddler’s death. Here, Tuerkheimer weighs in on questionable convictions in child death cases. Her opinions do not necessarily reflect those of CBS News.
A few months ago, a 55-year-old Florida day care provider became yet another caregiver accused of shaking a toddler to death. The woman, who had worked with children for decades, denied harming the boy. But pediatricians concluded that this was a case of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS).
Even before an autopsy was performed, the state charged the woman with murder. She is being held in jail without bond and if convicted, she faces mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Based on the press reports, this case resembles many that I have written about in my book, Flawed Convictions: “Shaken Baby Syndrome” and the Inertia of Injustice. Without witnesses or external signs of abuse, the classic diagnosis of Shaken Baby Syndrome rests on three neurological symptoms, otherwise known as the “triad”: bleeding beneath the outermost layer of the brain, retinal bleeding, and brain swelling.
These symptoms are said to prove that a baby was violently shaken and, what’s more, to identify the abuser– whoever was present when the child was last lucid. Shaken Baby Syndrome is, in essence, a medical diagnosis of murder. In order to convict, prosecutors must rely entirely on the claims of science.
But the science has shifted. In recent years, there has been a growing consensus among experts that the neurological symptoms once viewed as conclusive evidence of abuse may well have natural causes, and that old brain injuries can re-bleed upon little or no impact.
In short, current science raises significant questions about the guilt of many caregivers convicted of shaking babies.
Reflecting real movement in the direction of doubt, this past spring, a federal judge in Chicago issued a ruling of ...
1 hr 6 min
May 31, 2015 Questionable convictions in “shaken baby” cases - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement
The term “shaken baby syndrome” (SBS) was developed to explain those instances in which severe intracranial trauma occurred in the absence of signs of external head trauma. SBS is the severe intentional application of violent force (shaking) in one or more episodes, resulting in intracranial injuries to the child. Physical abuse of children by shaking usually is not an isolated event. Many shaken infants show evidence of previous trauma.
Frequently, the shaking has been preceded by other types of abuse.
Mechanism of Injury
The mechanism of injury in SBS is thought to result from a combination of physical factors, including the proportionately large cranial size of infants, the laxity of their neck muscles, and the vulnerability of their intracranial bridging veins, which is due to the fact that the subarachnoid space (the space between the arachnoid membrane and the pia mater, which are the inner two of the three membranes that cover the brain) are somewhat larger in infants. However, the primary factor is the proportionately large size of the adult relative to the child. Shaking by admitted assailants has produced remarkably similar injury patterns:
The infant is held by the chest, facing the assailant, and is shaken violently back and forth.
The shaking causes the infant’s head to whip forward and backward from the chest to the back.
The infant’s chest is compressed, and the arms and legs move about with a whiplash action.
At the completion of the assault, the infant may be limp and either not breathing or breathing shallowly.
During the assault, the infant’s head may strike a solid object.
After the shaking, the infant may be dropped, thrown, or slammed onto a solid surface.
The last two events likely explain the many cases of blunt injury, including skull fractures, found in shaken infants. However, although blunt injury may be seen at autopsy in shaken infants, research data suggest that shaking in and of itself is often sufficient to cause serious intracranial injury or death.

By DEBORAH TUERKHEIMER CBS NEWS February 26, 2015, 11:34 AM
Questionable convictions in "shaken baby" cases?
Deborah Tuerkheimer is a Professor of Law at Northwestern University and the author of "Flawed Convictions: 'Shaken Baby Syndrome' and the Inertia of Injustice." She also appears onSaturday's "48 Hours" investigation into the case of Melissa Calusinski, a former day care provider who says she is wrongfully convicted in a toddler's death. Here, Tuerkheimer weighs in on questionable convictions in child death cases. Her opinions do not necessarily reflect those of CBS News.
A few months ago, a 55-year-old Florida day care provider became yet another caregiver accused of shaking a toddler to death. The woman, who had worked with children for decades, denied harming the boy. But pediatricians concluded that this was a case of Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS).
Even before an autopsy was performed, the state charged the woman with murder. She is being held in jail without bond and if convicted, she faces mandatory life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Based on the press reports, this case resembles many that I have written about in my book, Flawed Convictions: "Shaken Baby Syndrome" and the Inertia of Injustice. Without witnesses or external signs of abuse, the classic diagnosis of Shaken Baby Syndrome rests on three neurological symptoms, otherwise known as the "triad": bleeding beneath the outermost layer of the brain, retinal bleeding, and brain swelling.
These symptoms are said to prove that a baby was violently shaken and, what's more, to identify the abuser-- whoever was present when the child was last lucid. Shaken Baby Syndrome is, in essence, a medical diagnosis of murder. In order to convict, prosecutors must rely entirely on the claims of science.
But the science has shifted.
1 hr 17 min
May 17, 2015 Pt 2 The Suicide Plan – Investigating Planned Suicides - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement
The assisted suicide movement is, if anything, indefatigable. Not only is it undeterred by its failures, but it is now more energized than any other time in recent years. By the end of March of 2015, bills were introduced in twenty-five state legislatures to legalize assisted suicide.
Defining the Subject
Many people remain confused about the exact nature of assisted suicide advocacy, sometimes confusing it with other medical issues involving end-of-life care. Thus, to fully understand the subject, we must distinguish between ethical choices at the end of life that may lead to death and the poison of euthanasia/assisted suicide.
1.      Refusing unwanted medical treatment is not assisted suicide: Fear of being “hooked up to machines” when one wishes to die at home has traditionally been a driving force behind the assisted suicide movement. But we all have the right to refuse medical interventions—even if the choice is likely to lead to death. Thus, a cancer patient can reject chemotherapy and a patient dying of Lou Gehrig’s disease can say no to a respirator. Indeed, in 1997, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that the right to refuse medical treatment is completely different from assisted suicide.[9]
2.      Assisted suicide/euthanasia is not the same as medical treatment for pain control: Because pain control may require strong drugs, which can cause death, assisted suicide advocates often claim that palliation and euthanasia are ethically the same under the “principle of double effect.” But this is all wrong:
Any legitimate medical treatment can unintentionally lead to death, including pain alleviation. In assisted suicide death is the intended effect.
We would never say that a patient who died during open heart surgery was euthanized. Similarly, a patient who dies from the unintended side effects of pain control has not been assisted in suicide or euthanized.
Pain control experts state that aggressive pain control generally does not shorten life.
3.      Assisted suicide/euthanasia is antithetical to hospice: Hospice was founded by the great medical humanitarian Dame Cicely Saunders in the late 1960s as a reform movement to bring the care of the dying out of isolated hospitals and into patients’ homes or non-institutional local care facilities. Its purpose is to provide dying people with proper treatment of pain and other disturbing symptoms as well as to render spiritual, psychological, and social support toward the end that life be lived as fully as possible until natural death.
In contrast, assisted suicide is about rushing death, making it happen sooner rather than later through lethal actions. Or to put it another way: Hospice is about living. Assisted suicide/euthanasia is about dying. As the noted palliative care expert and assisted suicide opponent Dr. Ira Byock has written, “There’s a distinction between alleviating suffering and eliminating the sufferer — between enabling someone to die gently of their disease and ending that person’s life with a lethal pill or injection.”
4.      Assisted suicide/euthanasia are acts that intentionally end life: In contrast to the above, the intended purpose of assisted suicide and euthanasia is to end life, e.g., to kill. In assisted suicide, the last act causing death is taken by the person who dies, for example, ingesting a lethal prescription of barbiturates. In euthanasia, the death is a homicide, an act of killing taken by a third person, such as a doctor injecting a patient with poisonous drugs.
From an Investigators Standpoint
With the above statements we can see that the topic of assisted suicide is at best conversional. As a death investigator, our job is simple; to report the facts and the facts only. However, it is well understood that our own emotions and bias on the topic can and will play a role in how we approached these scenes.
1 hr 11 min
May 10, 2015 The Suicide Plan – Investigating Planned Suicides Pt1 - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) collects data about mortality in the U.S., including deaths by suicide. In 2013 (the most recent year for which full data are available), 41,149 suicides were reported, making suicide the 10th leading cause of death for Americans. In that year, someone in the country died by suicide every 12.8 minutes. With those totals, we are all bound to be involved in investigating suicides. Suicides can be acute, meaning short term or spur of the moment final decision, or a well planned and risk assessed action. In this episode of Coroner Talk™ we are going to look at the pros, if there be any, and the cons of planned suicide.
Featured in this weeks show is a PBS production of Frontline that deals with the topic of a well planned suicide and the legal and moral implication that accompany such a decision. Regardless of where you stand on the topic, this episode will start you thinking of the other side.
The Assisted Suicide Debate
Since Oregon legalized physician-assisted suicide for the terminally ill in 1997, more than 700 people have taken their lives with prescribed medication — including Brittany Maynard, a 29-year-old with an incurable brain tumor, who ended her life earlier this month.
Advocates of assisted-suicide laws believe that mentally competent people who are suffering and have no chance of long-term survival, should have the right to die if and when they choose. If people are have the right to refuse life-saving treatments, they argue, they should also have the freedom to choose to end their own lives.
Opponents say that such laws devalue human life. Medical prognoses are often inaccurate, they note — meaning people who have been told they will soon die sometimes live for many months or even years longer. They also argue that seriously ill people often suffer from undiagnosed depression or other mental illnesses that can impair their ability to make an informed decision.
At the latest event from Intelligence Squared U.S., two teams addressed these questions while debating the motion, "Legalize Assisted Suicide."
Before the debate, the audience at the Kaufman Music Center in New York was 65 percent in favor of the motion and 10 percent against, with 25 percent undecided. After the debate, 67 percent favored the motion, with 22 percent against, making the team arguing against the motion the winner of this debate.
http://www.npr.org/2014/11/20/365509889/debate-should-physician-assisted-suicide-be-legal
The Suicide Plan - Investigating Planned Suicide
Investigators are offered a hard road when it comes to investigating a planned suicide when it is found that family or friends may have assisted in some manner, regardless of the extent of the that assistance. Even providing a cool drink of water to wash down the pills that will end life can be enough in some states to charge a person with assistance. But where, as investigators, do we stand on the issue. Some investigators are only providing cause and manner of death determinations, which can be clouded by the assistance issue. While other investigators are charged with the task of deciding the criminal aspect of the assistance rendered.
In part two of this issue we will take a deep dive into the debate that will most assuredly muddy up the waters a bit. That is next episode on Coroner Talk™..
The post The Suicide Plan – Investigating Planned Suicides Pt1 appeared first on Coroner Talk™.
1 hr 29 min
May 03, 2015 Dr. Judy Melinek – Working Stiff - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement
A forensic pathologist can not work in a vacuum, they must have critical information gathered at the scene by qualified investigators. It is only with this information and the results of the autopsy that a ruling can be made. It is often that a ruling will be delayed, or no determination made at all, without this information and investigation by the medicolegal investigators.
In this episode I talk with Dr. Judy Melinek, and forensic pathologist working with the Alameda County Coroners Office and and private consultant at Pathology Expert .com. We discuss what investigators need to provide to a pathologist to help in the determination of cause and manner of death. We also discuss her role in the 9/11 attacks as she was working in New York City at the time and witnessed the first plane hit.
Dr. Melinek, along with her husband TJ - wrote the book Working Stiff that chronicle her first two years as a forensic pathologist and her work in New York City Medical Examiners Office during the 9/11 attacks.

The fearless memoir of a young forensic pathologist’s “rookie season” as a NYC medical examiner, and the cases—hair-raising and heartbreaking and impossibly complex—that shaped her as both a physician and a mother.
Just two months before the September 11 terrorist attacks, Dr. Judy Melinek began her training as a New York City forensic pathologist. With her husband T.J. and their toddler Daniel holding down the home front, Judy threw herself into the fascinating world of death investigation—performing autopsies, investigating death scenes, counseling grieving relatives. Working Stiff chronicles Judy’s two years of training, taking readers behind the police tape of some of the most harrowing deaths in the Big Apple, including a firsthand account of the events of September 11, the subsequent anthrax bio-terrorism attack, and the disastrous crash of American Airlines flight 587.
Lively, action-packed, and loaded with mordant wit, Working Stiff offers a firsthand account of daily life in one of America’s most arduous professions, and the unexpected challenges of shuttling between the domains of the living and the dead. The body never lies—and through the murders, accidents, and suicides that land on her table, Dr. Melinek lays bare the truth behind the glamorized depictions of autopsy work on shows like CSI and Law & Order to reveal the secret story of the real morgue.
About the Authors
Judy Melinek, M.D. is a graduate of Harvard University. She trained at UCLA in medicine and pathology, graduating in 1996. Her training at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York is the subject of her memoir, Working Stiff, which she co-wrote with her husband. Currently, Dr. Melinek is an Associate Clinical Professor at UCSF, and works as a forensic pathologist in Oakland. She also travels nationally and internationally to lecture on anatomic and forensic pathology and she has been consulted as a forensic expert in many high-profile legal cases, as well as for the television shows E.R. and Mythbusters.
T.J. Mitchell, her husband, graduated with an English degree from Harvard and has worked as a screenwriter’s assistant and script editor since 1991. He is a writer and stay-at-home Dad raising their three children in San Francisco. Working Stiff is his first book.
The post Dr. Judy Melinek – Working Stiff appeared first on Coroner Talk™.
1 hr 13 min
April 26, 2015 Interviewing Children of Homicide - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement
GENERALLY ACCEPTED GUIDELINES
1. Avoid bias; explore alternative hypotheses or explanations
The most important thing for a child interviewer to do to obtain a reliable statement from the child is to have no preconceived belief as to what happened. The approach should be one of hypothesis-testing. Unfortunately, many interviewers try to get the child to say things which confirm what they already think happened. The importance of avoiding bias and taking a hypothesis-testing approach is basic and is specifically addressed by most of the articles that discuss interviewing guidelines. For example, Ceci and Bruck (2) note that "Interviewer bias influences the entire architecture of interviews and is revealed through a number of different component features that are highly suggestive" (p. 80). If the interviewer has a preconceived belief about what happened, he or she is likely to ask questions and get answers that confirm this belief. A number of classic studies in social psychology demonstrate the powerful effect of preconceived beliefs on information an interviewer or experimenter gets (30, 31, 32). Several recent studies show the effects of interviewer bias on the accuracy of statements made by children in interviews (2, 33, 34) as well as in other situations
(35).
To avoid biasing the interview, the interviewer must explore alternative hypotheses. One is that the abuse occurred as alleged. But there are other possibilities. In general, alternative hypotheses often include the following (these are not exhaustive, but are offered as examples):
The allegations are basically valid, but the child has substituted a different person for the perpetrator.
Some of the allegations are valid, but the child has invented or been influenced to make additional allegations that are false.
The child misperceived innocuous or inappropriate but non-abusive behaviors as sexual abuse.
The child has been influenced or pressured to make a completely false allegation to serve the needs of someone else.
The child has made a false allegation for personal motives of revenge, gain, to show off to a peer, or to help someone else.
The child has fantasized the allegations, possibly because of psychological problems.
The child initially made up the allegations but has talked to several people about them and they have now become real to the child.
The child saw pornographic magazines and pictures, saw a pornographic movie, or observed adults engaged in sexual activities, and this contributed to the allegations she later made.
The child engaged in sex play with peers or siblings, and then accused an adult.
The child was questioned repeatedly by adults who believed the child had been abused, and the child began making statements to please the adult, who then reinforced the child with attention or praise.
2. Videotape (or at least audiotape) all investigatory interviews
There is a strong consensus that forensic interviews of child witnesses should be videotaped, or at least audiotaped. Only electronic recording can ensure an accurate record of the interview. Without a tape, there is no way to know just what was said by the interviewer to elicit a response from the child. There is no way to know just what the child said. There is no way to determine whether the child's statements are the result of a leading, coercive, and contaminating interview rather than the child's account from his or her own memory and personal knowledge. There are no good reasons for not taping an investigatory interview of a child witness and many compelling reasons for doing so (36-41).
Even experienced interviewers are unable to accurately recall their specific, verbatim questions and the child's answers that are necessary for evaluating an interview (42). This includes times when they take verbatim notes during the interview (38).
1 hr 8 min
April 19, 2015 Workplace Bullying - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement

Workplace Bullying is repeated, health-harming mistreatment of one or more persons (the targets) by one or more perpetrators. It is abusive conduct that is :
Threatening, humiliating, or intimidating, or
Work interference — sabotage — which prevents work from getting done, or
Verbal abuse
This definition was used in the 2014 WBI U.S. Workplace Bullying Survey. Its national prevalence was assessed. Read the Survey results.
Workplace Bullying...
Is driven by perpetrators' need to control the targeted individual(s).
Is initiated by bullies who choose their targets, timing, location, and methods.
Is a set of acts of commission (doing things to others) or omission (withholding resources from others)
Requires consequences for the targeted individual
Escalates to involve others who side with the bully, either voluntarily or through coercion.
Undermines legitimate business interests when bullies' personal agendas take precedence over work itself.
Is akin to domestic violence at work, where the abuser is on the payroll.
Please know two things:
You are not alone
You did not cause bullying to happen
Bullying is a systematic campaign of interpersonal destruction that jeopardizes your health, your career, the job you once loved. Bullying is a non-physical, non-homicidal form of violence and, because it is violence and abusive, emotional harm frequently results. You may not be the first person to have noticed that you were bullied. Check to see how many of these indicators match yours.
Remember, you did not cause bullying to happen. We've broken down the major reasons why bullies bully. The primary reason bullying occurs so frequently in workplaces is that bullying is not yet illegal. Bullying is four times more common than either sexual harassment or racial discrimination on the job.
Should you confront the bully? If you could have, you would have. Instead, use the WBI-suggested 3-Step Method. Remember, put your health first. Don't believe the lies told about you. Spend time with loved ones and friends. At times of debilitating stress like this, you must not be isolated. Isolation will only make the stress worse.
As we said, to date, no U.S. state has passed an anti-bullying law for the workplace.
* This article is a re-print if excerpts from Workplace Bullying Institute To read full article and see many more resources click over to there site.
Todays guest is Anita Brooks of anitabrooks.com

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The post Workplace Bullying appeared first on Coroner Talk™.
1 hr 1 min
April 12, 2015 Blood Pattern Analysis - Coroner Talk™ | Death Investigation Training | Police and Law Enforcement
Because blood behaves according to certain scientific principles, trained bloodstain pattern analysts can examine the blood evidence left behind and draw conclusions as to how the blood may have been shed. From what may appear to be a random distribution of bloodstains at a crime scene, analysts can categorize the stains by gathering information from […]
The post Blood Pattern Analysis appeared first on Coroner Talk™.
1 hr 1 min

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We are a community of professionals in the field of death investigation. Whether you're a coroner, a member of local police or county law enforcement, an EMS professional, or medical examiner – or frankly, anyone in between, Coroner Talk™ is the right community for you. We provide training and resources to coroners and death investigators by and from professionals around the world in a peer-to-peer training environment. I recognized that the training available for coroners and small department investigators was limited by resources such as time away from the department and expense. So, I developed Coroner Talk™.

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