Heh. Way to soften up Dad about your arrest. Made him grateful you were alive! 
I was too flustered. sigh
How dare you diss wolves!!!
Very large family here.
Have been notified of a death by answering machine before. They do not have unlimited time to make unlimited calls to make sure all 3,257 relatives hear it form a close relative who understands.
Heck, I’ve been forgotten in the process and missed a funeral or three.
Direct family is not good, I agree.
As a people we try to be compassionate. Sometimes there is just no way.
All who want to hang the poor guy who goofed up, you will all, of course, agree whole heartedly when you goof up and the world turns on you and drives you to the brink of sanity…
::::: sheesh :::::::::
YMMV
Oh, yes,
I have been on the receiving end of being told my child was dead.
Been there. * gives me the right I figure*
There are a lot of things that are worse which are done by authority that needs addressing too. This IMO does not need so much condemnation as it seems to be getting.
and
Show me where anyone called for the gallows. In fact, show me where anyone called for anything at all to happen to the cop in question. I started the thread simply to make a point about how awful it must be to receive such news in this way, and to suggest that the cop in question was either extremely dopey and insensitive, or just ignorant of his department’s procedure.
Since when do we need a capital offence to start a Pit thread?
::::: sheesh :::::::::
I seem to have called for corporate-sponsored sensitivity training. That’s pretty harsh, I must admit.
You ever been to one of those???
YIKES!!! 
When I was 17, I asked my Dad to borrow his car to go to my boyfriend’s house which was only a mile or two away. Dad did not normally lend his car to anyone, but I got him with “But Daaad, then you won’t have to come out and pick me up at 11:00 and besides, what can happen between his house and home? It’s not like it’s faaar.” So naturally on the way home I “parked” the car on the opposite side of the street between several trees and a fire hydrant.
Luckily his car was a boat (a 1973 or 74 Chevy Caprice) and although the car ended up being totaled, I wasn’t hurt. I ran to the nearest house and asked to use the phone and called my parents to tell them what happened. Someone must have called the police because shortly afterwards, my mother gets a call saying “This is the police, your son OR daughter has been involved in an accident…” as though my body was so mangled they couldn’t tell what sex I was. My mother was very grateful she had heard from me first.
Sorry about that post up there by some imposter using my screen name. I know I couldn’t have posted it because I would rather shoot myself than post something that unwieldy, confusing and just plain poorly written.
bang