First Responder Funeral Honors Require a Written Standard Before Tragedy Happens

These guidelines are for the United States Certified Ceremonial Guardsman program for more information on the program and how you and your team can be certified. Click here to download these guidelines to include them in your unit’s program. Developed in Coordination with Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and West Palm Beach Police Department. If you have any information that you think should be included, please send it in and I will share it.

Introduction

1. First responder employees have a sense of family that develops from the close working relationships and fellowship that is characteristic of the law enforcement, firefighting, and emergency medical
   service professions. It is important to demonstrate proper respect for the deceased, the next of kin, and coworkers.
2. This document establishes the different levels of funeral honors and guidelines for official representation of the honor guard at funeral ceremonies.

Definitions

1. GENERAL TERMS
   • NOK – Stands for Next of Kin, the closest family member(s)
     to the deceased, usually a spouse.
   • COACH – A much more gentle term for the hearse. Used in
     front of the family.
   • HGC – Honor Guard Commander.
   • FLAG TYPE – It is up to the NOK to decide on whether the deceased has a casket draped with the American, state, or municipal flag. Every American citizen is authorized to have the American flag on their casket. It is just a question of who will fold and present the flag.
2. CEREMONIAL ELEMENTS
   • CASKET WATCH – At minimum, one, but usually two unarmed (does not apply to service weapon) honor guard members stationed individually at the head and foot of the casket during the period of visitation or viewing of the deceased. Guards are changed on a rotation basis. The length of the
     watch depends on the number of trained watch guards. Heads-down is not authorized. Casket Watch guards must remain looking forward for communication with other team members including cues.
   • COLOR GUARD – At a minimum, four honor guard members: two rifle/axe guards and two color bearers (US and state). The team may add a departmental flag. If the deceased served simultaneously in two departments (e.g. LEO and fire), both departmental colors may be added in joint service order: LEO, Fire, EMS.
   • TROOP ESCORT – Uniformed members who flank the walkway between the house of worship or funeral home and the coach/caisson and gravesite.
   • FIRING PARTY – Four or eight honor guard members (including the commander) who fire three volleys over the gravesite during the graveside service.
   • PALLBEARERS – Six or eight honor guard members designated to carry the casket.
   • HONORARY PALLBEARERS – Six or eight friends of the deceased and/or uniformed personnel designated to flank the pallbearers. At the discretion of the NOK.
3. CAISSON – A fire truck with the hose bed used to transport the casket. Some cemeteries have a replica caisson made of wood that is either pulled by horses or the honorary pallbearers.
4. MOTOR ESCORT – a minimum of two but no more than four LEOs on motorcycles to help the funeral procession through traffic.
5. LAST RADIO CALL – Coordinated with central dispatch. The call goes out for the deceased’s badge number with no reply.
6. CAPARISONED HORSE – A saddled riderless horse.
7. AVIATION FLYOVER – A single aircraft coordinated to flyover before the flag fold and presentation to the NOK.
8. BURIAL AT SEA – If the uniformed member served with a marine unit, burial at sea (casket or urn) is authorized provided it is in accordance with local environmental requirements.
9. PIPES AND DRUMS – the musical unit to play whenever the casket is transferred from a building to transportation and to the gravesite.
10. LONE PIPER – For funerals not authorized a full pipe band.
11. USHERS – (not a ceremonial element, can be department employees or family friends, check with NOK) used in the chapel service to direct the attendees where to sit.

Family Liaison

1. Administrative Coordination. The appointed Family Liaison is responsible for securing pension, insurance, state or federal compensation, or benefits due the deceased’s NOK.
2. Ceremonial Coordination. The Family Liaison will contact the NOK to ascertain if they wish
   official participation in the funeral. If official participation is desired, the Family Liaison will contact the HGC to coordinate with the funeral director regarding ceremonial duties at each stop of the procession.
3. The HGC and ceremonial element leaders will visit the funeral home, house of worship, and
   gravesite to coordinate arrangements for each ceremonial element and report back to the Family Liaison.

During the Funeral Ceremony

1. During all ceremonies and especially in front of the NOK, the specific terms must be used to reflect the professionalism of the team and dignity of the event (funeral, colors presentation, etc.). The following are terms and their subsequent replacement:

1. Hearse – instead use, “Coach”.
2. Coffin – instead use, “Casket”. In the USA, we do not normally carry a coffin, a six-sided container without handles.
3. “Detail” – This generic term conveys a sense of “I need some volunteers” and those volunteers are possibly reluctant. Instead, use the ceremonial element terms: “Firing Party”, “Colors”, and [pall] “Bearers”. When writing about a request for ceremonial presence (a “detail”), use the term, “Ceremony” to be more clear.
4. Fire Team, Firing Squad, and Rifle Team – These terms are not accurate descriptions of the ceremonial element known as the Firing party.
5. See the book, The Honor Guard Manual, for a complete description of all ceremonial honors connected with a funeral and other occasions and the sequence of events.

Non-LODD & Other Funerals

The following are procedures for civilian employees, retired employees and active or retired members from other agencies.

1. Upon notification of a line of duty death from another agency, the Communications
   Supervisor forwards the notification to the Sheriff/Chief and HGC.
2. Sheriff/Chief notifies HGC on recommended representation.
3. HGC sends recommendation for official representation to Sheriff/Chief.
4. Sheriff/Chief gives final approval.
5. HGC notifies honor guard members of requirement to deploy.

First Responder Funeral Honors Require a Written Standard Before Tragedy Happens

A first responder funeral is not the time to invent policy. When a law enforcement officer, firefighter, EMS provider, dispatcher, or agency chief dies, the department is already under emotional, operational, and public pressure. The family is grieving. The agency is grieving. The community is watching. Command staff are trying to make decisions quickly while dealing with shock, logistics, politics, tradition, and expectations.

That is exactly why every department must have a written funeral honors standard before a death occurs.

The legal status of the death matters. A line-of-duty death (LODD), a line-of-duty-related death, an active-duty non-LODD death, a retiree death, and the death of a former member do not all carry the same ceremonial expectations. The legalities do not control every ceremonial decision, but they absolutely affect the ceremonial outcome. A department must know in advance what level of honors may be offered for each category.

Without a written standard, a department can easily overreact, underreact, or make inconsistent decisions in the middle of tragedy. None of that serves the family, the department, or the profession.

LODD Status and Funeral Honors Are Related, But Not Identical

A LODD determination is a legal, administrative, and benefits-related matter. It can affect state benefits, federal Public Safety Officers’ Benefits Program eligibility, retirement issues, workers’ compensation, memorial recognition, and official reporting.

Ceremonial honors are different. They are an agency’s public and professional expression of gratitude, respect, and final recognition.

Those two areas overlap, but they are not the same.

A department may authorize substantial honors for a member whose death is not officially classified as a line-of-duty death. Conversely, a department must be careful not to use full line-of-duty ceremonial honors in a way that implies a legal determination that has not been made.

That is why the written standard matters. The department should not be trying to decide, under pressure, whether an active-duty death, trauma-related suicide, retired member death, or former member death receives the same honors as an officially confirmed LODD.

That should already be written.

Suggested Funeral Honor Categories

The department standard should define categories of funeral honors clearly enough that command staff, the honor guard, the family liaison, and the funeral coordinator all understand what may be offered.

The categories do not have to be identical for every agency, but they should be established in writing.

Category I: LODD Funeral Honors

This is the highest level of departmental funeral honors. It is normally reserved for a member whose death is officially determined, or is being formally treated by the agency, as occurring in the line of duty.

A LODD funeral may include (examples):

• 24-hour Informal and Formal Casket Watch (1/2 members)
  • https://thedrillmaster.org/2018/07/31/formal-casket-watch/
• Eight pallbearers (carry casket and fold flag)
• Eight-man firing party (one commander, seven to fire)
• Department-provided flag
• Flag fold and presentation to primary next-of-kin (NOK)
  • Family can purchase additional flags which will be folded prior to funeral and presented to designated NOK at the funeral
• Chief/Sheriff presents flag
• Color guard (two guards and bearers for the US, state, county/parish/city, and department)
• Agency, municipal, county, state, and national representation
• Honor cordon at the church, funeral home, cemetery, or other designated locations
• Formal procession with agency vehicles
• Last call or final alarm
• Bell ceremony (firefighter)
• Bugler to play live Taps
• Bagpiper
• Presentation of fired blank casings in a cloth bag
• Specialty representation
  • Riderless horse, caisson, mounted unit
  • Motorcycle unit
  • Marine unit
  • K-9 representation
  • Other when associated with the member or agency
  • flyover only when authorized and operationally appropriate

This level should be used carefully because it communicates the highest level of institutional recognition.

Category II: LODD-Related Funeral Honors

This category is essential.

Not every death fits neatly into a confirmed LODD category at the time funeral decisions must be made. Some deaths may be duty-related, service-connected, trauma-related, illness-related, or pending official review. One example would be a heart attack at home after shift. Suicide deaths may also fall into this difficult area when the circumstances suggest a connection to accumulated trauma, duty-related stress, or service-connected injury, but no final legal determination has been made.

A LODD-related category gives the department a responsible middle ground.

It allows the agency to honor the member’s service and acknowledge the seriousness of the circumstances without prematurely declaring the death a legal LODD.

A LODD-related funeral may include:

• 24-hour Informal and Formal Casket Watch (1/2 members)
  • https://thedrillmaster.org/2018/07/31/formal-casket-watch/
• Six/eight pallbearers (carry casket and fold flag)
• Four- or eight-man firing party (one commander, three/seven to fire)
• Department-provided flag
• Flag fold and presentation to primary next-of-kin (NOK)
  • Family can purchase additional flags which will be folded prior to funeral and presented to designated NOK at the funeral
• Chief/Sheriff presents flag
• Color guard (two guards and bearers for the US, state, county/parish/city, and department)
• Leadership representation
• Modified cordon at designated locations
• Formal procession with agency vehicles
• Last call or final alarm
• Bell ceremony (firefighter)
• Bugler to play live Taps
• Bagpiper
• Presentation of fired blank casings in a cloth bag
• Specialty representation
  • Riderless horse, caisson, mounted unit
  • Motorcycle unit
  • Marine unit
  • K-9 representation
  • Other when associated with the member or agency
  • flyover only when authorized and operationally appropriate

This category is especially important for cases involving suicide, occupational illness, delayed injury, or deaths still under administrative review.

The standard should be clear: the ceremony honors the member’s life, office, duty, and service. It must not glorify the manner of death or create a public implication that a legal LODD determination has already been made.

Category III: Active-Duty Non-LODD Funeral Honors

This category applies to a current member whose death is not considered line-of-duty or line-of-duty-related, but who was serving the department at the time of death.

For example, an active officer, firefighter, EMS provider, dispatcher, or agency employee may die from an off-duty accident, sudden medical event, or other non-duty-related circumstance.

An active-duty non-LODD funeral may include:

• Day of funeral Formal Casket Watch (1/2 members)
  • https://thedrillmaster.org/2018/07/31/formal-casket-watch/
• Six pallbearers (carry casket and fold flag)
• Four-man firing party (one commander, three to fire)
• Department-provided flag
• Flag fold and presentation to primary next-of-kin (NOK)
  • Family can purchase additional flags which will be folded prior to funeral and presented to designated NOK at the funeral
• Chief/Sheriff or other department representative presents flag
• Color guard (two guards and bearers for the US, state, county/parish/city, and department)
• Leadership representation
• Modified cordon at designated locations
• Formal procession with agency vehicles
• Last call or final alarm
• Bell ceremony (firefighter)
• Bugler to play live Taps
• Bagpiper
• Presentation of fired blank casings in a cloth bag
• Specialty representation
  • Riderless horse, caisson, mounted unit
  • Motorcycle unit
  • Marine unit
  • K-9 representation
  • Other when associated with the member or agency
  • flyover only when authorized and operationally appropriate

This level recognizes current service without equating the death to a line-of-duty death.

For an active chief, sheriff, fire chief, EMS chief, or agency head, the department may authorize broader representation because the individual held command responsibility for the whole organization. Representation from every major unit may be appropriate, not because the death automatically becomes LODD, but because the office held carried agency-wide responsibility.

Category IV: Retired Member Funeral Honors

Retired members deserve recognition for completed honorable service, but retiree honors should be distinct from active-duty and LODD honors.

A retired member funeral may include:

• Formal Casket Watch during ceremony (1 member)
  • https://thedrillmaster.org/2018/07/31/formal-casket-watch/
• Six pallbearers carry the casket; two fold the flag while three move over to man the firing party firing line and one moves to hold electronic bugle
• Four-man firing party (one commander, three pallbearers to fire)
• Department-provided flag
• Flag fold and presentation to primary next-of-kin (NOK)
  • Family can purchase additional flags which will be folded prior to funeral and presented to designated NOK at the funeral
• Department representative presents flag
• Leadership representation
• Pallbearer holds bugle and sounds electronic Taps
• Presentation of fired blank casings in a cloth bag

The department should also define whether honors differ for retirees in good standing, medically retired members, former chiefs, former command staff, and retirees who later served in another agency.

The written standard prevents the department from having to make those decisions in an emotional atmosphere.

Category V: Former Member, Civilian Employee, Dispatcher, Chaplain, Volunteer, or Support Personnel Honors

Every agency has people who served the mission but may not fit the traditional sworn or uniformed categories: former members, civilian employees, dispatchers, chaplains, administrative staff, mechanics, volunteers, explorers or cadet advisors, auxiliary members, reserve officers, support personnel. The standard should address them.

This category may include:

• Six pallbearers carry casket, two fold flag
• Department-provided flag
• Flag fold and supervisor presentation to primary next-of-kin
• Department representative presents flag
• Leadership representation

This category allows the agency to show respect without improvising or creating inconsistent precedent.

Why the Written Standard Matters

A funeral honors standard protects everyone involved: the family from confusion, the department from emotional decision-making, the honor guard from being asked to perform honors that are not appropriate or authorized, command staff from accusations of favoritism, neglect, or inconsistency, and the meaning of a line-of-duty death funeral by ensuring that the highest level of honors is not applied casually or politically. Most importantly, it allows the department to respond to tragedy with discipline instead of panic.

A tragedy is not the time for command staff to ask questions. Those questions must be answered before the phone call comes.

Special Consideration: Suicide Deaths

A suicide death requires compassion, discretion, and a written standard.

The department must not make the manner of death the ceremonial focus. The ceremony should honor the member’s life, service, office, and contribution to the agency. It should also support the family and the surviving members of the department.

At the same time, the department must be careful about the level of honors authorized. A suicide may be legally determined to be duty-related in certain circumstances, especially where trauma, injury, or cumulative occupational stress is involved. But that determination is not made by the honor guard at the funeral home. It belongs to the proper legal, administrative, or benefits authority.

This is why the LODD-related category is so valuable. It gives the department a way to provide significant honors while avoiding an unsupported ceremonial declaration.

Recommended wording:

In cases involving suicide, the department shall honor the member’s service, support the family, and provide appropriate departmental representation. The ceremony shall not glorify the manner of death or imply a legal line-of-duty determination unless such determination has been made by the proper authority. When the circumstances suggest a possible duty-related connection, the department may authorize line-of-duty-related honors according to this standard.

Final Principle

The department must not wait until tragedy occurs to decide what honor looks like.

A written funeral honors standard should define what may be offered for:

• confirmed line-of-duty deaths
• line-of-duty-related or pending determination deaths
• active-duty non-LODD deaths
• retired member deaths
• former member deaths
• civilian employee, dispatcher, chaplain, volunteer, and support personnel deaths

The standard should also identify who has authority to approve honors, who communicates with the family, what ceremonial elements may be used, and what must be withheld unless specifically authorized.

A funeral is the department’s final public act of respect for one of its own. It should be compassionate, disciplined, lawful, and consistent.

Without a written standard, the department is forced to improvise during grief.

That is not leadership, that’s scrambling and the family deserves better.

Originally put together in 2019, rewritten in 2026.