family to the funeral home and/or the place of the service, as well as to the cemetery or other location of final disposition. This individual will be tasked with establishing staging areas, deciding upon routes, involvement of other agencies, and related tasks (Silloway, 2011). The cemetery coordinator will have the primary responsibility of coordinating all of the services to be held at the cemetery. This will include coordinating a plan for the parking of vehicles, both official and private. There may be considerations that need to be made for tight turns that fire apparatuses will need to make or of low hanging limbs of trees that may prevent the apparatuses from certain routes in the cemetery (Silloway, 2011). casket for the honor guard to practice with that will be used for the service. Most departments have a workout center with free weights. Placing weights in a similar casket to approximately equal the weight of the deceased will be helpful for the honor guard who will serve as pallbearers to prepare properly. The lead director of the service will be involved in numerous planning meetings until the day of the service. There will be planning meetings and a walk through of every venue involved in the service. As the service comes together, there will be an order of service and events that will come together. Whereas the typical order of service directors deal with includes the timing for the music, eulogies, and sermons, the order of service and events will include every component from the beginning of the setup to any reception that may be held after the service. Planning for the day of the service will likely include much more preparation than most other services. The details that should be considered are such as the areas that will need to be reserved for seating of various groups. Many Line of Duty Death services will be attended by large numbers of personnel from other organizations, local and/or state dignitaries, and civilians. As with all services, there should be ample seating reserved for the family of the deceased, including additional seats for those who may not be anticipated by the family. There will need to be additional sections reserved for members of the organization in which the deceased belonged. There should also be a section reserved for personnel from other agencies or departments. Additionally, consideration should be given to reserving ample seating for dignitaries who may be attending the service. When selecting where each reserved section will be located, it is advisable to consider the functions and activities planned for each group, such as a walk of honor being performed at the service. Following the lead vehicle and/or clergy vehicle will normally be the vehicle that is transporting the deceased. Traditionally, the casketed remains are transported in a funeral coach. When conducting services for Line of Duty Death services for fire service personnel, the deceased may be transported on a fire engine caisson. For those who are emergency medical services personnel, they may be transported in the rear of an ambulance or other official agency vehicle. To follow the funeral coach or caisson should be the vehicle(s) with the immediate family members. The family may be in funeral home provided limousines, busses secured by the funeral home or agency, or in official agency vehicles. The family will be followed by the agency vehicles in which the deceased was a member of, dignitaries, vehicles from other agencies, agency personnel in personal vehicles, visiting agency personnel in personal vehicles, and then all other vehicles. and prepare to receive the procession. Upon arrival of the procession, the casket should not be removed from the coach or caisson until the remainder of the procession has arrived and are prepared to receive the deceased. It is customary at
The church coordinator will be instrumental in coordinating many aspects of the service and ensuring that the teams that will be involved have everything in place that will be needed. Additionally, this individual will act as a liaison between other coordinators in preparing the various components of the service (Silloway, 2011). The procession coordinator will have the primary responsibility of planning and orchestrating the procession. This will likely be more than from the service to the cemetery, in the case of an interment. There will often be several processions involved in one service. The processions will normally be such as from the funeral home to the place of the service, a procession of the Family conference When a public servant is killed in the line of duty, there is a good chance that media outlets will be reporting on the events. These members of the media may be at the home of the family, as well as at the funeral home. Because of this media attention and for other reasons, the family may prefer to make arrangements at their home or an alternative location outside of the funeral home. There will likely be a representative of the agency that will assist the family in making arrangements. There will be many traditions and honors the department of the deceased will wish to observe and make available to the family. However, the funeral director and the representatives of the agency must honor the wishes of the family above all. The arrangement conference will include all of the same components as other arrangement conferences, with the addition of many more details than normal. Many of the honors and traditions may be currently in the planning and preparation phase, but awaiting the decisions of the family concerning services, final disposition, and which honors the family would like included. The family should be made aware of the honors and traditions being planned, as well as the ones which may be available. It is ultimately the decision of the family as to which, if any, of the traditions they would like included. Once the services have been arranged, the various components of the honors will begin their planning, preparation, and rehearsal in earnest. As an example, the honor guard will likely want to practice the exact steps they will take with the casket until every move is executed flawlessly. If the casket will be transported in a funeral coach, it may be helpful to make the coach available for the team to practice with. If possible, it can also be very helpful if the funeral home staff member who will be driving the coach on the day of the service is able to drive the coach as the honor guard rehearses. The optimal situation will be for the driver to use the same coach and provide a similar Procession The procession for any Line of Duty Death service will normally be greater in length and more complex than normal processions. For any personnel in law enforcement, the fire service, emergency medical services, or the like, there will likely be assistance available for traffic control and escorting of the procession. It is important to make certain the piper(s), drummer(s), bugler, and honor guard are able to arrive at the cemetery prior to the arrival of the procession. At the discretion of the funeral home and the director, an official agency vehicle may be used as the lead vehicle in the procession. The lead director can request to be in this vehicle to ensure the proper direction of the procession. If a director chooses to use an agency vehicle to lead the procession, consideration must be given to transportation for the clergy, minister, and/or chaplain. This can be in a funeral home vehicle directly behind the lead vehicle or in an agency vehicle. Graveside/Committal The Graveside or Committal Service is an important final tribute in a Line of Duty Death service. Depending upon availability and the wishes of the family, there will often be bagpipers and drummers who will arrive at the cemetery in advance
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