Delivering the news ‘you never forget’

“I can remember every single death message that I have given. Every fatal that I’ve been to. Everything.”

The Bendigo police officer has knocked on the doors of five families, preparing to tell them someone they love has been killed in a crash.

“You never forget it.

“You’re thankful that it’s not your family in that situation at that time but then still sympathetic to the people it has involved.”

He has had to deliver the news twice during his time as a police officer in Melbourne and three times in Bendigo.

One such time was for a young girl who died.

“She was on the back of a motorbike that went into a pole in town. I had to give it to her mum. 

“They’re the harder ones, when they’re kids.”

The Acting Sergeant was only “brand new” at the time and says it is a task that often ends up being carried out by junior members with the assistance of experienced officers.

He says it is one of the worst aspects of the job he has been in for more than 10 years.

“Dealing with death always is... it’s final.

“And then obviously the families have to live with it, but you still live with it too, it’s still always there.”

Sixty-three people have lost their lives on Victorian roads so far this year. 

Sixty-three families have had a knock on their door and 63 times police officers have had to deliver those gut-wrenching words.

“You’ve got to do it quickly, but you have to think about what you say,” Acting Sergeant Sanders says.

“You have to turn up and knock on the door and pretty much straight away say, ‘I have some bad news’.

“Then there’s the shock and you’ve got to try to manage that, talk to them, get them to sit down, get them a drink.”

Some know the moment the police car arrives in the driveway.

“Some do, some have a feeling, some have read, they’ve seen it on the Addy website, they’ve seen that there has been a collision and then they see the car…”

Acting Sergeant Sanders says their job then becomes not only consoling the family members, but also liaising with the scene to try to find out as much information as possible.

It’s a scene the Acting Sergeant knows all too well having been to countless fatal crashes and at least a dozen since he joined the Bendigo Highway Patrol three-and-a-half years ago.

“I could go through them all, but I’ve been to plenty,” he says.

“Unfortunately sometimes the people aren’t recognisable so we can’t give a death message because we don’t know.” It becomes a long process in those heartbreaking situations.

Any distractions in the car can lead to dire consequences.

That’s the message Acting Sergeant Sanders has for all road users.

“If you’re in a car, on a push bike, walking, around the road, you’ve just got to be very very careful and keep your wits about you,” he says.

“If you’re on the road then there are other people on the road and they’re big pieces of metal. It doesn’t take much of a brain slip or a fade to end in tragedy for somebody.

“Distractions can kill. You don’t want the police to have to turn up and deliver the news to your family.”