Pubdate: Wed, 11 Feb 2004 Source: Surrey Now (CN BC) Copyright: 2004 Lower Mainland Publishing Group Inc., A Canwest Company Contact: http://www.thenownewspaper.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1462 Author: M. Wilks POLICE DON'T FIND DEATH IS TRIVIAL The Editor, Re: "Family told of death 3 months late," the Now, Feb. 4. I have been a police officer for seven years and am offended at Mr. Brown's insinuation that officers would trivialize his brother's remains as a "junkie corpse." While I am sorry for his loss, I am irate and have two points to make. Firstly, suicides, drug overdoses, critical incidents (ie. shootings ), victims of violence and crime are things we see every day. Our day-to-day work can have lasting effects on our emotions and job performance. I have never seen any co-worker of mine trivialize the death of a human, drug addict or not. We are always aware that the deceased has a family who cares and we are the ones who have to make the ever-dreaded "notification of next of kin." Secondly, I must also comment on the "supposed" lack of police action to track you down. We do not have access to your forwarding address from Canada Post. And operating within the restrictions of privacy rights can make obtaining information through other government agencies equally impossible. I highly doubt that your brother's sudden death file was concluded and suggest that the quest to locate family would have continued. One database we can access is the Motor Vehicle Branch. Was your driver's licence address current? This is one example of how changing your address within 10 days of moving could avoid similar situations. I have empathy for the Brown family, but even more so for his brother, Bruce. You know, the one who died three months ago and for whom no family came looking. I cannot help but feel that the Browns are lashing out in their grief and guilt to avoid acknowledging that they neglected to report him missing. M. Wilks Surrey - --- MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin