VICTIM LOCATION TAG©

The Victim Location Tag© is now attached to the bar code/number strip on all new “Cruciform”® cards.

The purpose of the tag is to identify the location of the victim on scene so that, when the victim has been removed, the police investigators can easily determine the place where the victim had been before removal.

The tag should be placed by the victim’s head, either by tearing it from the end of the strip and putting it on the ground as close to the victim as practicable, (held in place by a small weight – stone or similar,) or by peeling it from the backing sheet and sticking it to the car/coach seat, floor or other surface.

The tag number corresponds to the number of the “Cruciform”® card and will ensure that the victim can be tracked from scene to hospital or other final destination, linking together the scene with all rescuers, personal possessions and other documentation to make a continuity chain.

The SIO (Senior Investigation Officer) of the local police is principally responsible for the command of murder and serious crime investigations. They will find it very helpful to their investigations, if all victim locations, particularly where there have been multiple victims, such as in a road accident, are clearly identified and linked to the victims who have been taken from the scene by ambulance or other transport.

All victims who are categorised as dead on scene and all living victim

s taken from the scene, who subsequently die, will become the responsibility of HM Coroner.
Coroners inquire into deaths reported to them that appear to be of a violent, unnatural, sudden or unknown cause. The Coroner will seek to establish the medical cause of death.
The Coroner’s task is to determine the answer to the following questions –Who? – Who was the victim - name, next of kin, home address etc? Who dealt with the victim on scene, transported the victim to his/her final destination, or was otherwise involved with that victim i.e. relative, friend or witness?

            When? – When did the victim die?
            Where? – Where was the victim when found, and where did the victim end up?
            Why? – Why did the victim die? What was the cause of death?

To assist the Coroner, Coroner’s Officers are employed to try and establish continuity from the scene of the incident to the mortuary. The Coroner’s Officer has to link all who were involved with that victim, from the scene, through triage, transport and treatment to establish that there is no gap between rescuers’ involvements which might cause some doubt as to the identity of that specific victim.

Linking everyone involved with that specific victim will be helpful to the Coroner and if all agencies use the Victim Location Tag© together with the bar code/numbers from the “Cruciform”® strip taken by all involved to identify their own records; this will be extremely useful and should considerably reduce the investigative time involved.

It is suggested that, if Ambulance Service managers liaise with their local police commanders, it may be possible to jointly fund “Cruciform”® cards, so that the police get their victim locations tagged, with a Casualty Details form left at hospital for them, improving their investigation accuracy and reducing time, while the ambulance service get the use of the “Cruciform”® card as a triage sieve and sort tool at most multiple victim incidents to improve their own performance and assisting in patient care.