Family Liaison Flashcards
Family Liaison Officer
The appointment of an FLO will smooth process and provide the vital conduit between he family and the Police investigation throughout the investigation phase, prosecution and beyond.
Role
Day to day management of the partnership between the family of the deceased and the Police investigation. The primary function of an FLO is that of an investigator and not a support person. Normally responsible for profiling the victim, preparing a family tree and gathering all relevant information. Sometimes works in conjunction with OC Body taking statements to identify victim.
Family Liaison Plan
Developed considering the needs of the family, lines of enquiry and all available intelligence:
- selection of FLO and criteria
- exit plan for FLO
- objectives of FLO
- assessing most appropriate methods of interviews
- information to be released to and withheld from family
- requests made by family that have not been agreed to
- liaison with victim support
The Term Family
- Includes partners, parents, siblings, children, guardians, whanau, and any others who have had a direct and close relationship with the victim
- Includes ‘chosen’ family
- Should reflect the victims culture and lifestyle.
Suspect Within the Family
The OC should review the plan regularly and consider:
- FLO welfare and safety
- Increased monitoring of FLO’s work and interactions with family
- level of information disclosure to the FLO
- Process in which any intelligence arises from FLO contact with the family
- The importance of documenting all contact/interactions
- The possibility of deploying a more experienced FLO
- Deployment of a deputy FLO
- Investigative or evidential impact of deployment
Cultural Liaison
FLO should identify cultural origins of victims family and ensure they are familiar with the relevant cultural beliefs and protocols to enhance relations with the family and contribute to the victim profile.
In cases involving a Maori victim, an Iwi liaison officer should be involved from the earliest stage possible
Victim Support
Victims should be given the opportunity to make a written statement about the impact the crime has had on them, through a victim impact statement. The statement must be available for sentencing and should be no older than 28 days at the time of sentencing.
The FLO is primarily an investigative role but will coordinate the family access to Victim Support and other support agencies.
Early introduction will enable Police and Victim Support to work in partnership to provide appropriate information and support to family members.
Tasks FLO must do before meeting the family
- liaise closely with OC regarding parameters of information to be shared
- familiarise themselves with the enquiry
- familiarise themselves with all information established concerning the family, including family composition, cultural and lifestyle, religious beliefs
- familiarise themselves with available information and intelligence which could impact on the liaison role, such as previous Police involvement
- establish what information has already been provided to the family
When an Offender is Arrested
The FLO must:
- Inform the family of their rights on the VNR
- Ascertain any views the family have on bail and ensure they are communicated
- Inform family of charges laid, reasons why charges weren’t laid, changes to charges
- Inform the date and place of each hearing
- Inform of any applications made by the accused for name suppression
- Inform of release on bail, bail conditions
What Can’t the FLO do
Participate in any suspect identification procedures
Return of Property
Property should be returned by he FLO. These issues should be considered:
- What property does the family wish to be returned
- How do they want the property returned, for example do they wish items to be cleaned?
- Are there likely to be any delays in the return of any property?
- Property should be inspected to ensure all Police and Court exhibit tags have been removed
Media
The FLO must not issue any statement to the media unless specifically requested to by the OC investigation in consultation with the Media Liaison Officer. They should take steps to:
- Establish family views on media appeals
- Request family to nominate spokesperson
- Prepare for anticipated level of media interest
- Provide a copy of ‘Media information letter to family of the deceased’
- Inform of significant developments before releasing such information
- Request approval of victims family to release a photograph
