End of Watch Call
The End of Watch Call or Last Radio Call is a ceremony in which, after a police officer's death (usually in the line of duty but sometimes from illness), the officers from his or her unit or department gather around a police radio, over which the police dispatcher issues one call to the officer, followed by a silence, then a second call, followed by silence, then finally announces that the officer has failed to respond because he or she has died in the line of duty.[1] An example:
Radio Lakewood 101…No answer Lakewood 101…Lakewood 101 out of service. Gone but not forgotten." [2]
Sometimes the dispatcher will mention the officer's honors and may add other words in memoriam.
In some cases the call is made twice, once immediately after the officer's death, then more formally closer to the date of or actually at the officer's funeral. [3]
History
The practice of the end of watch call began in the mid–2000s in police departments on the East Coast of the United States. By 2010 the practice had spread to the West Coast, and to firefighters, forest rangers, and game wardens in the United States and Canada.[2]
Media depiction
- An End of Watch call is played 28 minutes into Episode 6, Season 2 of Bosch.
- The custom as practiced in the New York City Police Department (NYPD) was depicted in the "End Of Watch" Season 3 Episode 8 of the police procedural Elementary.[4]
- On the soap opera General Hospital, the character Jordan Ashford uses a radio to make the Last Call to Nathan West, an officer killed in the line of duty by his father, Cesar Faison.
- An End of Watch call is played near the end of Episode 10, Season 1 of the police procedural Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector.
- The practice of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) was shown in the "Reckoning" episode of Southland.[5]
- An End of Watch call occurs on Episode 16, Season 2 of the dramatic comedy The Mysteries of Laura, starring Debra Messing and Josh Lucas.
- The movie End of Watch, starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena, follows two officers during their day to day duties in the south end of Los Angeles.
- An end of watch call is made for Deputy Luna in the episode 3, titled 10-8 Deputy Down, of Season 1 of the procedural drama, Deputy.
- An End of Watch call is played 40 minutes into Episode 10, Season 2 of the drama Chicago Med, stating Officer Kathryn Windham's honorifics.
References
- "Listen to the Last Radio Call for Officer Doug Barney". FOX News 13 Now. January 25, 2016.
- "Terms used by Police Funerals". Funeral Wise.
- Larson, Randall D. (July 6, 2015). "Making the Last Call-Broadcast". 911 Magazine.
- "Elementary end watch". AVCLUB.
- "Southland End Of Watch". AVCLUB.