Aftermath · 11 of 16 · Prepare Before the Call
The Copy-Paste Protocol Disaster
Editorial introduction
In this post from John Cooley, a simple principle, “Your agency, your protocol,” frames the question of what a funeral plan has to contain to work in a crisis. He explains why a protocol borrowed from another department rarely fits the structure, services, and resources of the one that has to use it. It is a practical case for building the plan around your own people before the call comes.
Funeral protocols need to be agency specific. The likelihood of an agency having or finding a comprehensive funeral protocol that meets its specific needs when a tragedy occurs is remote. When an agency is in crisis is not the time to discover that the funeral protocol on file or the one found on the internet is not compatible with the agency’s organizational structure, support services, or resources. Every agency’s preparedness and planning objective should be, “Your agency, your protocol.”
The law enforcement funeral protocol, handbook, manual and plan provided are presented as exemplars to emphasize the various styles and content being published as guidelines for law enforcement funerals. All are beneficial and comprehensive, yet different. What style does your agency’s protocol need to be in order to be user friendly in a crisis? How comprehensive does it need to be to meet an agency’s needs? Like a police report, can it be Accurate, Brief, and Complete? Does an agency need a resource library to support its protocol? If so, should it include these protocols?
The Living Resource Guide helps chaplains and police agencies build and maintain a practical collection of trusted contacts, local knowledge, and referral information to support their own protocols. It explains what to include, how to annotate and verify entries, and why a current physical copy belongs within reach. Companion articles explore the relationships and trust that make those contacts useful, while the National Resource Directory connects readers with broader programs, training, and toolkits for officers, families, and communities.
By John Cooley
The solution · Checklist
Your Agency, Your Protocol
New checklist, drafted from this reading for John Cooley’s review.
Before the call
- Name the agency’s own funeral protocol, handbook, manual, and plan, and the person who owns it.
- Test it against your agency’s structure, support services, and resources, not a neighbor’s.
- If it came from another agency, evaluate it critically. Changing “deputy” to “officer” is not adapting it.
- Decide the style the protocol needs to be user friendly in a crisis.
- Decide how comprehensive it must be. Like a police report: accurate, brief, and complete.
- Decide whether a resource library supports it, and what that library holds.
Keep it ready
- Build the resource library: trusted contacts, local knowledge, and referral information.
- Annotate and verify every entry.
- Keep a current physical copy within reach.
- Use outside protocols as models to learn from, never as the plan itself.