Summary: Police Therapist Obligation

The coroner is responsible for identifying the victim as well as determining the cause and manner of death.

This caught my attention right away and hooked me in. Along with being a topic I was quite interested in (reference to last nonfiction book report), the first two sentences got me wondering. What could be told from a murdered person’s body? I already had a lot of background information from research and watching shows on mystery and homicide but this question led to a million answers. Some answers were cause of death, manner of death. time of death, weapon used, etc, all of which were related because this was sparked from the thought of a dead person and my ideas. From this, I read on to determine what could be told from an expert’s point of view.

This method may have been sufficient in the 10th century when people were illiterate and believed the world was flat; however, the scientific world since then has grown exponentially. Science is a powerful study, aiding us in understanding the complex process life and the absence of life, death. Pathology, the science of disease, has assisted in the arrests of countless criminals, uncovering the truth and more notably providing a sense of closure for the loved ones of the deceased. A coroner system without the foundation of science is a system that keeps murders on the streets, the innocent behinds bars and prosecutors frozen in cases. The most memorable example of inefficiency is Dr. Paul McGarry, who made careless errors in not just one but four autopsies. In the case of new prison inmate Cayne Miceli, McGarry initially determined the cause of death to be a drug overdose. Upon the further examination, a second examiner found a heap of mucus in her lungs indicating she had severe asthma. The doctor then concluded the real cause of death was the jail restraints on her chest blocked her airways during an asthma attack (Thompson, 2011, para 13-16). A peculiar fact about the case was the McGarry concluded the cause of death before he got the test results. Could he had been trying to hide something? After all, he is an elected official which according to the NAS

The purpose of a forensic autopsy is to find out the time of death, the mechanism of death, and the manner of death. The time of death is what led to the death, the mechanism of death refers to anything used to kill the person, and the manner of death is either homicide or suicide.

According to Baltimore police spokesman Anthony Gugliemi, “they don't track PTSD numbers, Nationwide, it's estimated as many as 18 percent of police are suffering from PTSD”(Doane). He once described it as, "a hidden enemy. We don't really know it. We don't really understand it," Gugliemi explained. Leaving officers untrained in the matter of mental health illness has led to many officers not getting the proper care and treatment individually. Some may argue that counseling is given, and that police officers are able to go to these sessions. However, the “counseling [offered in the force] is not mandatory” (Doane). Making counseling mandatory would remove the stigma of asking for help, and would also [hopefully] help the officers who are dealing with or have experienced on the job traumatization. Asking for help can be very degrading, and could make someone feel weak in the eyes of society. Having a shrink/therapist is frowned upon and opens doors to nasty comments and hushed whispers. You might even be labeled crazy or something just has to be wrong with you, why else would you have one? For police, their job is high demand and their emotions are often tucked away as soon as they step into their uniform. Mandatory counseling will inform and help police officers and their superiors who have preexisting trauma, dealing with, or is being exposed around possible situations that can lead to

The police officers are trained to observe, predict, and react. They maintain the order and reinforce the law in our society. It is estimated that as many as 10% of all police interactions involve persons with severe mental illness (SMI) and that of all incarcerated individuals, 14.5% males, and 31% females suffer

From police interaction of the mentally ill, Crisis Intervention Training has been born with the focus on police officers being able to identify individuals who may be suffering from various type of mental illness. In addition to being able to identify if a person is suffering from a mental disorder, the training also teaches officers the skills to communicate with them in hopes to de-escalate the tense situation peacefully (Russell, 2012).

This is an attempt to unravel the tangle by an objective and empirical examination of information from crime scene and post mortem examination of the victims. Pre-digested information such as speculative newspaper reports, and statements from witnesses other than those called in a professional capacity have been avoided since theirs is largely subjective testimony that confounds more than it informs.

Death is a universally experienced phenomenon. In the United States alone, over 2.6 million people die each year (Center for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015). For practitioners, it is of utmost importance to better understand the process of grief to develop better interventions for bereaved individuals.

Upon arriving at the crime scene located at the dazed Ave of sunset and lilac, I discover what appears to be double homicide. I arrived and was briefed by the head officer who was the first person at the scene so he was able to explain what happened, an officer assisted my technician and I. The time the incident was 6:54 AM on November 9th, 2011. The neighborhood has had a multiple amount of past incidents following these events and to what seem to be a quiet community with a larger amount of elderly and young newlyweds was more ignoring to the danger of the area. Two officers informed me that there was a robbery in progress that turned into a Homicide. As supervisor of the crime scene the first thing I am going to observation from see the body I can tell it was

This truth forms an essential link between the enforcement of law and protection of the public in the administration of justice.” Forensic pathology is clearly a crucial role in the justice system. You have to be a little weird and crazy to have a passion for the kind of work that the coroners and M.E. go through on an everyday basis. They use past knowledge to make decisions on how death occurred and they come across many different postmortem changes in dead bodies. Every field is important in forensics, but pathology advocates for truth and justice to dead

An autopsy is an examination of the body after death. It usually consists of an external and an internal examination of the body. The external examination also documents identifying features such as scars, tattoos or other markings which may assist in the identification of the body. The internal examination looks at the internal organs to document any natural disease processes and/or injury .Its purpose is to learn the truth about the persons health during life and how the person really died, These situations include, violent deaths such as homicides, accidents, and suicides. Other categories are suspicious deaths, sudden and expected deaths, deaths in children and infants, prisoners, persons under the care of an institution,

This paper discusses the different roles that are taken on by a forensic psychologist, and how those roles interact and affect each other and how the psychologist is about to do his/her job. It looks briefly at the history of the field. We discuss the forensic psychologist as the consultant, the therapist, the researcher, as well as the expert witness. This paper also discusses predicting dangerousness and whether or not an expert can predict dangerousness. Finally we look at conflicting roles and ethics in the field.

On April 05, 2016 at approximately 1518 hours, I was dispatch to 2004 Pine Street in reference to a death investigation. Upon my arrival, I met with Detective Campbell who was the lead Investigator at the scene. Detective Campbell stated that the victim neighbors reported a strong smell coming from the victim’s (Cortiz Lazarz) residence. The neighbors called 911 and Officer Volk was the first responded officer on scene. Defective Campbell and officer Volk stated that the victim located on the living room floor, fazing the south from the residence. Detective Campbell requested I process the scene for evidence and documentation.

The specialized personnel that I would need at the crime scene include a medical examiner, sketch artist, photographer, forensic scientist, fingerprint specialists and investigating officers. The responsibility of the medical examiner is to determine the cause of death, time of death, and take custody of the body (Fisher, 2004).