Danville police chief proposes ending police escorts for funeral processions

Chief concerned about manpower, safety

DANVILLE, Va. – Funeral home directors in Danville are expressing their concern over a proposal to end police escorts for funeral processions.

The Danville Police Department is currently short 17 officers.

According to Danville Police Chief Col. Philip Broadfoot, that makes responding to calls difficult if officers are tied up escorting a funeral procession.

"It does impact productivity and our ability to police the city as required," Broadfoot said.

At Tuesday night's council meeting, the chief gave a presentation to council members.

He said the department provides escorts for an average of 320 funerals a year and each escort ties up the officers for about an hour and 15 minutes.

He also believes funeral processions have become increasingly dangerous for everyone involved, including the officers.

"I'm really worried about the folks in the procession," Broadfoot explained. "People see the marked police car coming, they see the blue lights and they know what that is. That does provide an exceptional degree of safety for the officer."

Townes Funeral Home owner David Fuquay has seen this himself but does not support the chief's proposal.

He said the chief met with local funeral home directors last week and they all expressed opposition.

"We're concerned about the funeral homes' liability should we decide to continue with unescorted funeral processions," Fuquay said.

Funeral homes would likely no longer have funeral processions and instead would tell people to meet at the gravesite at a certain time.

"The hearse and the limousine would probably go together. Everybody else would go on their own," Fuquay said.

Broadfoot has not officially decided yet if the department will stop providing escorts.

During his presentation Tuesday night, he proposed ending the escort service on Aug. 1, but at the request of council members agreed to postpone the date to give council more time to discuss the issue.

Prior to the chief's presentation, Swicegood Funeral Home Director Kermit White spoke to council members about his opposition to the proposal.

"I appreciate the presentation that the police chief made, I appreciate the fact that the funeral homes, funeral owners, came by, but like I shared with the chief and like I shared with council last night, let's study this a little bit more because we don't know the ins and the outs of this," said Danville Councilman Alonzo Jones.

The police chief has the final say, but Broadfoot said he will work with council and citizens to get input on the issue before making a final decision.