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Some funeral homes charging for free serviceTue, 05/13/2008 - 3:14pm
By: Letters to the ...
How many of you have been part of or witnessed a funeral procession in Fayette County (and the cities therein)? If you have, I bet you saw local officers stopping traffic at the intersections along the way, sometimes “leap-frogging” each other to keep up. Oftentimes you will see these officers standing at the intersections, with their hats or hands over their hearts, nodding to each person that passes. Personally, it chokes me up to see it. Fayette County is the only county in our area that provides this service as a courtesy, using on-duty officers (and then only if they are not on an active, high-priority call). It didn’t used to be that way, but as crime has risen in other counties, they just don’t have the manpower or will to provide this courtesy. (You can, however, hire off-duty officers to lead the motorcade, though they cannot stop traffic). I recently learned that local funeral homes (in Fayette County) charge $300 or more for police assistance for the funeral procession (usually from the funeral home to the cemetery). I do not believe that $300 is too much for such a service, as there may be several officers involved, stopping traffic at all intersections. However, no part of the $300 goes towards paying the officers, either personally or to the department. Not a penny. As previously mentioned, the officers do it as a courtesy. They are already on duty, and sometimes cannot assist with the procession because of higher priority calls. But they make every effort to make it to all the intersections along the route, and while it may seem like a small thing, it doesn’t feel like it when you are one of those in the procession. They will do this all the way to or from the county line. Because the procession route may go through more than one jurisdiction (city to county to city is common), there is coordination required to make sure things run smoothly. Usually, they do. But not because of the funeral home. Nope, the funeral home charges grieving families $300 for a service that is provided for FREE by local law enforcement. So what is the $300 paying for? A phone call. Seriously. Just a phone call. An employee of the funeral home calls the Fayette County Communications Center, where all emergency and non-emergency calls for the entire county (and cities) are answered, and from where all police and deputies (and fire/ambulance) are dispatched. The communications operators there answer the phone, take down the procession information (time, from where to where via what route, and how many cars) and then the operators (who are also dispatchers) relay the information to the appropriate agencies. So, $300 for a phone call. It is a phone call that could be made by any member of the family, or even a friend (just by calling the local non-emergency number, which is 770-461-4357, and giving the aforementioned information). In my opinion, it is a phone call that should be part of the whole funeral package. It is ONLY a phone call! I wish my company could charge customers $300 for a phone call. If you find this outrageous, like I do, spread the word. Grieving families have the right to speak up. Just because they are at a vulnerable time does not mean they should be price-gouged. Unfortunately, even when they do, and even when they make the call themselves, the funeral homes still often “forget” and charge them anyways. From what I’ve seen, most families are past the point of caring enough to fight over the bill when it is presented to them. They just want to be done. But that doesn’t make it right. A local public safety employee who is also a citizen (Because of my job, I prefer to remain anonymous in print.) login to post comments
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