Investigating sudden unexpected death in childhood

This course has been developed to prepare officers for the management of child death investigations. The course is for:

• PIP Level 2 supervisors and detective sergeants working within public protection teams or similar units who are charged with being the lead investigator for sudden unexplained child deaths.
• PIP level 2 senior basic command unit (BCU) detective inspectors and detective chief inspectors who are employed in a role that requires them to respond to sudden childhood deaths.
• PIP level 3 senior investigating officers (SIOs) who investigate child homicide offences.

This six-day course includes both classroom-based learning and immersive learning in the Hydra Suite.

The optimum number of learners for this course is 10.
 

Aims

To provide BCU senior detectives and SIOs with the knowledge, understanding and skill required to enable them to respond to incidents of childhood death effectively, thereby improving their ability to determine whether a crime might have been committed, and to provide an effective foundation for any potential homicide investigation.

To provide SIOs with additional capability, over and above their capability at PIP level 3, to comprehensively investigate cases of childhood death that are unexpected from the outset but believed to be suspicious.
 

Objectives

To equip the learner with the essential knowledge, understanding and skills required to respond effectively and conduct sudden unexpected death in childhood investigations, including:

• determining whether a crime might have been committed and providing an effective foundation for any potential homicide investigation
• developing appropriate investigative strategies
• manage potential conflicts between the needs of the investigation and the needs of the family
• understanding the forensic post-mortem
• working with partner agencies
• understanding related and parallel processes and proceedings