Page 91 - Once a copper 10 03 2020

office who investigates the circumstances of deaths where a doctor is unable
to issue a death certificate, deaths which are unresolved or suspicious. They
will have jurisdiction over the body until the circumstances have been
investigated.

The coroner’s officer, who may be a police officer or a civilian, helps the
coroner with the investigation into the cause of death. The Sudden Death
form which contains all the relevant details is passed on to the coroner’s
officer as soon as possible to make any necessary arrangements.

Protecting the Potential Chain of Evidence

Where a death was considered suspicious or where a death certificate had
not been issued, it was standard procedure for the body to be transported to
the central mortuary, adjacent to the Coroner’s office in Birmingham (for
West Midlands cases). The attending officer would be responsible for
escorting the deceased together with any personal property, until transferred
into the custody and care of a Coroners Officer. This procedure was
considered vital to preserve the body in the condition it was discovered and
to securely hand over any property that may or may not prove to be relevant
to any subsequent enquiries.

Whilst not a panacea for every sudden death we dealt with, the process
described if followed properly, would ensure the due respect and care was
shown to the deceased and best practice adopted in the event of a death
under suspicious circumstances.

So, who was Doctor Death? In a word - ME.

I had made the innocent rooky blunder of mentioning in the controllers’
office that day, that I had never seen a dead body let alone handle a
sudden death. The Sergeants between them decided it would be a good
test of my resilience to send me to a few as they came up during our shifts in
the weeks ahead.

Over the summer months of 1981, I was sent to over twenty sudden deaths.
Even when a mobile officer was available and I was perhaps walking
Kingstanding Circle or Hawthorn Road beats on the most northerly parts of
the patch, the available car would be sent to collect and take me a sudden
death in a most southerly part of the sub division. After completing the job, I
would have to walk back to the station to type out the report.

I came to realise that there was little possibility of having an inflated ego in
this job.

Due no doubt to the aging population of some of the inhabitants on our Page91
patch, most deaths I was sent to were due to natural causes, elderly residents