Well, this is certainly an odd way to find out your daughter is dead.

[Solitaire]

I believe both statements are accurate. I'm slightly more inclined to believe Albert actually made the statement attributed to him, though.

The quote by Lincoln is real, also. You can tell because they didn't have Photoshop back then.

 

[actaeon277]

The military has had problems with this over the last decade or so.

 

[Indy317]

Girl, 17, Murdered At College – Parents Infuriated After Discovering Death While BROWSING FACEBOOK

I don't even know what to say.

There is nothing to say, nothing we can do about this. This is becoming the norm for parents who are connected to their kid's Facebook and many of the kid's friends. People want instant communication, this is a result of that. If one wants to be connected, but never hear about someone's death in that fashion, then they need to reduce e-mail notifications, always having Facebook pulled up, etc.. Basically check the thing once or twice a day and leave it at that.

Call Parents to notify

Aside from calling for medical assistance, my brother was the first call.

Basically, this is how it went:

"Mr Schilling, this is _____ from Wabash College, Sir, I'm sorry to have to call you, but something has happened to your son. No sir, we don't know any details yet, he was found to be unresponsive in his room about 5 minutes ago, medical personnel are enroute, the college emts are there now. No, sir, he didn't appear to be outwardly injured. Yes, the police are being notified by one of my staff as we speak. Yes, sir, I will keep you informed as soon as we know anything else.

It only takes about 4 seconds to pick up a phone and call the parents...

You are comparing a call to advise of a medical transport to a death notification. There is a huge difference between "Mr. Schilling, this is ____ from Wabash College. Sir, I'm sorry to have to call you, but your son is dead." Telling relatives that their loved one is being transported to a hospital is essentially telling them they are alive, but just in distress. Telling a single father over the phone, who just lost his wife to cancer six months, that his only child is dead could lead to deadly consequences. Imagine the outrage is some LE agency did just that, and the father went into his closet, got his gun, and committed suicide. Death notifications are to be done in person if at all possible, to prevent just such an incident from taking place spur of the moment.

Wouldnt you rather be called and told as soon possible, even though your questions can't be answered?

So long as we won't blame LEOs (again) when someone who is told over the phone "Your kid is dead" ends up committing suicide. Blame it on Facebook, Twitter, or whoever, but if this is how death notifications are going to happen...via a phone call from what is essentially a non-verifiable stranger, then just don't blame the cops if the recipient goes and does something tragic to themselves. First thing I've seen done with death notifications is to get people to stay with the person. You and I might be able to deal with a death notification over the phone, but that doesn't means other can.

Also, the advising of a person's death is a serious thing. I'm not certain they should be done without a face-to-face meeting of some kind.

Prank, social media spread rumors of Ind. teen's death

There is just something about it becoming normal for person's who are unknown to the kin making a death notification via a phone call.


There is also other issues that non-LEOs don't consider. This isn't some aging parent, where LEOs are 99.99% certain the death is natural. In addition, this wasn't some freak car crash, where LEOs are again 99.99% certain the death isn't a homicide. Believe it or not, family members are sometimes responsible for deaths, so in some circumstances, an in-person notification is made as an investigative tool to see how the family will react. Not only that, sometimes it is customary to ask "When is the last time you saw ____?" Get some info, then deliver the notification.

More of the story needs to be told on this girl though. How many hours/minutes had passed before the parents saw this? I won't rush to judge. I've been on the other end of that phone and it hurt, but not near as much if he hadn't called at all and I saw it elsewhere.

I can't find a time frame from the news sources I read. Only that LEOs arrived almost immediately after they had read about it on Facebook. Not sure how long it had been on Facebook or if it was just posted before the LEOs arrived.

Me? I'd rather there be a 30 minute delay and be told in person than via an impersonal phone call. Being alone is generally not the best thing for people after hearing traumatic news that their loved one is gone. That's just my opinion though, everybody is different.

Don't worry. The first time a single mother receives a death notification of her only child via a phone call from a police officer and commits suicide, we will get a thread her on INGO about how incompetent the LEOs were and that they should have used their powers to know the single mother was alone and would have committed suicide.

This type of LEO activity is now a lose-lose situation for LEOs. Make a phone call, person is on TV crying about the cruel, heartless, and informal method of notification. Wait to make the notification in person, again the relative is on TV crying about the cruel, heartless, and lengthy method of notification. Make a phone call and end up with the receiver committing suicide at the news. That will be the lead story for the news.