WA Radio Scanner Users' Group

Hey Guys...

Not Posted For a while....
Last night i was listening to the ole scanner and there was a Prang up near midland and there was 3 killed and the chaplin was called but i kept hear the callsign of 'shepard 1' does anyone kno who this is ?

That's the police chaplain's callsign. It's also the title of his monthly column in the police service magazine.

Steve wrote:That's the police chaplain's callsign. It's also the title of his monthly column in the police service magazine.

That was his callsign under the old single letter series, strange that he still uses it. His offical callsign is probably WM101. But I suppose doing the job he has to do, who cares what callsign he uses...

yeah they kept saying it all of last night at that prang

i thought it may have been them

They may well have allocated his vehicle a two-alpha three-numeric callsign, but I don't think anyone would have an issue with him maintaining his old callsign.

Na, that would have to be one of the worst jobs in the force...

"Shepherd 1" is the Rev Barry May. He used to be a police officer before becoming an Anglican minister (and the chaplain to the WA Police).

The ABC did a story on him in January 2004 on the Compass programme. The transcript is here if anyone's interested...

I listened to that crash and after a couple a mins after the fist cop car was there, one of the cops told vki that one of the persons was deceased, i know that its obvious when a person is dead but only a doctor can pronounce someone dead, even d SAJ's cant prenounce people dead!

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Walks.

Walks,

I think JG-103 may have a point.

I think in a way they shouldn't really broadcast that someone is dead on the scene of an accident.

I witnessed an accident 2 years ago where a male was pronounced dead by police, but when SJA arrived, he was in a coma from his head injuries, and yes he did survive.

So i think in a way the police need to be careful of how and when they announce it on the radio - What's your view on this?

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Walks.

I reckon the police do a pretty good job of already..most often ive heard an officer will confirm a 315 or 316 on arrival or upon liason with SJA and it been VKI who has asked the attendee whether chaplain services are required..they almost never use plain language in those situations and more often than not revert to mobile phones , they are my listening observations anyway.

Hi,
I've heard a few fatal accidents on my scanner, but have never heard them mention a shepherd. Each one I heard varied in the 'actual' words they used to explain to VKI that someone had died. One was a lady PC, she said to change the 315 to a 316. Other times the cops usually just say something along the lines of 'deceased'.
Quoting the WA coroners Court Webpage "All members of the WA Police Service are Coroner's investigators." The person who 'legally declares' the person deceased is usually one of the Coroner's Medical Pathologists at Charlie Gardner Mortuary.
I had to go there, its not very nice

It is the Police Radio and you choose to listen, if you don't like what is being said then switch it off.....

I understand where everyone is coming from but i believe that unless that it is beyond resonible doubt that the person is dead, ie decapitated or squished into a square by the crash, (touch wood nobody will come across such an accident) they should say, we hav 1 very critical, that way vki can then inform SAJ that they have a priority 1 MVA. If my brother's mate rang me up and told me he had been drivin behind my brother's car when all of a sudden he crashed, then turned on the scanner to here a cop prenounce he is dead, it can be really traumatic. Dont get me wrong, the police do a great job, bout 4 weeks ago there was a crash outside my house and the police were there in no time and handled everything well.