Morbid question I know, but…How do the police know whose door to knock on if something happens to you?

[Hermanfromguesswho]

Inspired by another thread asking what people would assume if police officers knocked on your door and the overwhelming response was to worry that something had happened to a loved one.
Anyone who works in the police…how do you know who is next of kin/emergency contact?
I, for example, am a single parent of teenagers. I live alone with them.
Their Dad lives a couple of hours away. I have parents and siblings, who I am in close contact with but they all live at least 3 hours away and although they know what I do, they don’t know the name of where I work. They know my friends names but don’t have their contact details.
My whole support system here is a couple of very close friends (one is my children’s godparent) and my ex parent in laws (who live locally)
Morbid thought but I worry if I had a serious car accident and was badly injured or killed, how would my children find out? Is there somewhere I can register my friend and in laws as my official emergency contacts as they would be best placed to be with my children, care for them and inform the children’s Dad and my work etc.
I wouldn’t want someone knocking on my Mums door 3 hours away who would be lost and not know how to deal with it all!!

@RapunzelHadExtensions I find it really bizarre that you say that neither you nor any of the other police officers you know are aware of the emergency info option on a phone, accessible without having to unlock the phone. This is really basic surely??

When my late OH died the hospital checked his records and found my name. He didn't have a passcode on his phone so they used it to call me and tell me to go in ASAP so they could tell me face to face.

Make sure you have up to date numbers registered with your GP.

DH wallet made it back to our house with no police involvement - as men who found it opened and saw his provisional driver license (he doesn't drive had it for ID) with home address down the same road they were on.

We moved had break in DH motorbike stolen used in some further crimes and has irate police man screaming at us at 3 am for not updating DH motor bike details on insurance as he'd gone to previous address and woken them there - they had a follow on for any missed post by re-direct - we'd move week earlier but had update everything for go date so it was all done but it was likely the insurance database just hadn't been updated yet.

We had police run up at this house trying to do a welfare check on man we'd never heard off but they wouldn't believe us - searched the house got caught questioning the kids without permission - in end they radio back DH name had been mentioned by distant relatives as they used facebook non connection to come up with it - found our city then got police to find his address from I think council records as work no-one was in due to extreme bad weather - his workplace was on facebook but not home address.

I think they do obvious - check for ID - ID may have home address - if not and they have name - it's on my bank cards for example - they use what databases they have access to and check there.

I would guess if a RTA (or they carried their driving licence) then it would be through DVLA otherwise NHS next of kin. I assume majority of injured would have gone to hospital (whether emergency or morgue).

Have written (not on your computer) information in your house in a place that is fairly obvious. Police or other authorities will know where you live from your drivers licence, car registration etc so they will if needed get into your house and search for contacts, years ago this was easy because next to the hall phone would be an address book, nowadays far harder. Also have information on your phone under I.c.e. Plus information in your glove compartment. Make sure children too young to have phones snow where the emergency information is in the house in case they have a babysitter, if too young to be told this, the babysitter should be told.

I used to do this when mine were small including the British consulate number as we lived overseas and they would need to make various arrangements (happened alas to someone I knew)

really? this seems bizarre to me! I used to work with the police (civilian investigator), and knowing how more and more prevalent digital evidence is becoming it seems mad that first point of call for a quick ID wouldn't be to check someone's phone. Swiping right to get to the ICE (doesn't need the phone to be unlocked) is so much faster than calling up control to search for a numberplate, then dispatching someone to address there might not even be anyone at.

It's really worrying you don't know that and assume you would need someone's PIN to access their emergency contact info - I was taught about it in a first aid class over a decade ago because lots of people also log their allergies, blood type etc there too.

Ignore the car reg aspect - imagine something happened to OP without her car being involved, how would you trace her then?

From my experience phone would be checked first, if no accessible contact info then bank cards or similar to get your name, or any other info - work lanyard, business card or something. Then put your name through police national computer to see if any record of you at all - even if just a witness or reported a crime years ago. Can also liaise with council to see if you pay council tax/receipt of any benefits etc - although obviously that's assuming the incident happens where you live, and can take some time. Hospitals can look you up to see if you are logged anywhere on their systems as a patient or NOK, but again, not as helpful if accident takes place when you're away from home.

Because anything beyond a quick check when you have the name needs time and a bit of work, it's often the other way around, in that it's the emergency (or a) contact that provides the ID - e.g. ringing your phone to find out where you are and someone else (Police/nurse) answers, or you don't come home and so they contact the police to flag you as a missing person, and then the description given is matched to the Jane Doe found unconscious in the woods.

I have a parent with dementia, they were caught wondering by the police but it took a week for social services to inform me (I was easy to find, they just didn't get round to it). After that I contacted police, fire & ambulance services (online form, obviously not via 999/101) and asked for my details to be registered against his address which they did so it must be possible. We also had a list of phone numbers by the phone and in there wallet.

There’s usually (set up by the owner) an emergency contact on their phone (labelled ICE). Plus there’s records - voter registration, car reg, whatever ID and they look it up and there might be a bit of guess work but there’s more info about you and family on record than you might think.

Shouldn't you use the specific method that doesn't rely on being able to unlock your phone to get to the normal contact list? It's usually in health settings, that can bypass phone security in emergency.

ICE is great, but for obvious reasons the police generally don't want to give bad news on the phone unless it's 'get to the hospital now'. Even then if they can they'd rather do it in person.

I've known it used to get a name or number to search for an address though. If you've ever called the police and given your name and address, normally they can find it. Voters is also used if they know a name, although this can be wildly out of date. Vehicle registrations can be used to find a parent or loved one on the insurance policy too.

For people that live the other ends of the country, I've known officers ferry relatives half way as quickly as they legally can, so another force can pick up to say goodbye to loved ones. If they can find you, they will.

I have my ICE on my lock screen instead of a screensaver. Therefore no need to waste valuable time trying to unlock my phone or go searching through my belongings

When our younger son died in Bristol (we live in Warwickshire), we had very some very nice and sensitive police ringing our doorbell at 00.30 in the morning to let us know. How they found us I will never know. They were fully informed and told us who to contact in Bristol, so we could go down the next day and see him.

Brilliant and it must be the worst job in the world to do that, so all credit to our local police.

Lots of people mention making sure my NHS next of kin is up to date. I don’t recall ever giving any emergency contact details to my GP or being asked for any. How would they get this? Is it something I need to go into my GP and ask them to update? Or is it something I can do online? I can’t see anything in the NHS app

Im so very sorry about your son

It’s a good idea in theory, but I suspect difficult in practice. I used to work in a job which involved contacting British citizens overseas. At one point there was a voluntary register with the local embassy for people to register with. An emergency occurred, we attempted to use the list. It was totally useless, people had left, moved, etc etc. and not changed their details. Chasing up the wrong details took more time than starting from scratch.

Sometimes the simple things are the best. Have a really clear list of emergency contacts stuck on the fridge, which is available if your teens need it directly, or in the unlikely event of the police at the door. Have the numbers in their phones too.

I read somewhere that the fridge is the best place to put emergency things that someone might need to find. like contact details or medicine etc., because pretty much every home has a fridge, so emergency services are trained to look there.
I don't know if that training is done though.

I set it up ages ago. I think I followed Google instructions.
Basically on my android on the screen to enter the pin, at the bottom is written emergency if I tap on that, it takes me to another screen which says, something like, double tap for emergency details. DH's name and number is stored there.

If you’ve ever been to A & E at hospital you would have given it then, or any hospital admissions. So there might be something on your NHS record you’ve forgotten, I’ve never been asked to confirm those details at the GP, but they often verify next of kin when I go to hospital appointments.

Weird that the police don’t know you can access ICE when the phone is locked. That’s the whole point of it.

If you have your drivers licence with you it will have your address on it and they could see if that address is registered at any schools. The school could then put the police in to contact with any relatives who are down as an emergency contact for school purposes. Surely that can’t be breaking data protection if the police are requesting information.

I have emergency contacts set up on my phone which can be seen without unlocking my phone.
I also carry my diary and have emergency contacts in there on the first page.

This.

Maybe in your car too.

Perhaps the police have access to records the general public doesn't. So maybe they found your workplace from a combination of several sources such as DVLA records having your date of birth & address and HMRC records having your tax details which would include your current employer. Who knows? Or simply turning up at your home address when you are out and asking your neighbour if they know where you work. They aren't in the habit of divulging sources though.

The police don’t need to check a database of emergency contacts like this.

The police more than anyone, know how people they’re dealing with might fall out with the people assumed to be close to them, or that those contact details are out of date or not longer applicable for whatever reason. It would be pretty fucked if you were attacked by an abusive partner but because their details are on some emergency contact database, the police go on to inform the abusive partner about what has happened to you.

Government databases hold a lot of information about you and it’s just not necessary for the police to have to check another random system.

Beyond that, quite often when victims are incapacitated the police check the victim’s phones for evidence - particularly if the crime is under investigation. So worst case, they’d even be able to trace back a next of kin directly through the victim’s phone as a shortcut.

Or without that, they can tap into the various databases they already have access to.

Either update it at the GPs or at any hospital appointment when you next visit/phone. You may also be able to email your GP with the details.