What is the box in a cop's locker called if they die?

July 23, 2013 10:55 PM

CopFilter: Years ago I read in a book that cops have a box that they keep in their lockers. The idea is that if they are ever killed in the line of duty, that their partner would get the box and destroy it. I can't, for the life of me remember what the name for this sort of box is called, and what was traditionally kept in it. Can anyone who would be in a position to know help me out?
posted by Sully to Law & Government (10 answers total)

This really sounds kind of fanciful. Could it possibly have been metaphorical - the ideal partner can be trusted with all secrets, and won't reveal them even after you are in the grave?
posted by thelonius at 11:19 PM on July 23, 2013

A burn box.
posted by saradarlin at 11:48 PM on July 23, 2013 [4 favorites]

Suppose the cop is a married guy with a girlfriend on the side. Maybe the locker has pictures of the girlfriend, things she has given him, keepsakes that would betray him to his wife, a key to the girlfriend's apartment (or to their shared secret apartment), paperwork concerning hotels, separate credit cards and bank accounts, receipts for things he bought her, souvenirs of trips they took together that were supposed to be training trips, etc. There could also be a key and paperwork for a storage unit containing shitloads of stuff unknown to anyone but the dead cop. It would be up to the dead cop's friends to make sure the family stuff went to the family, the girlfriend stuff went to the girlfriend, and the uncertain stuff went to the incinerator or was kept aside until someone asked for it. A box labeled "Burn Me" (and maybe a couple more labeled "Wife" and "Girlfriend") would certainly make it a lot easier, but not everyone is going to be that paranoid and organized and have the locker space for it. And not everyone has the need for such things. Only in the movies does everyone have dreadful secrets and double lives to hide.
posted by pracowity at 2:43 AM on July 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

Yep, a burn box.
posted by Specklet at 4:11 AM on July 24, 2013

A plot device. This does not happen in real life.
posted by ook at 5:05 AM on July 24, 2013 [5 favorites]

This Yahoo Answer about burn boxes seems to be the only reference out there to them - indicating that either this is the correct term or that this is not a real thing. However there are various kinds of Dead Man's Switch which can be set up to take action in the event of non intervention by the owner. There are actually a number of services which have been set up to do this.
posted by rongorongo at 5:22 AM on July 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

It does happen in real life, essentially, although the instances I've known about firsthand weren't quite so neatly set up as, "There's a small, square box in my locker, and my partner has instructions to destroy its contents upon my death."

People do have secrets and double lives—yes, real-life people who are not movie characters. The few instances I've been acquainted with have actually been former police officers and former military, but I suspect that's more a function of coincidence and association, rather than the trope being specific to police or people with that background.
posted by cribcage at 5:29 AM on July 24, 2013 [1 favorite]

Definitely heard it referred to as a "burn box" though I've never heard of it limited to or even being related to being a cop. I've heard of it between roommates and best friends though like, "If I die, all my porn/toys are in that box at the end of my bed. Burn that box before my parents get there" type thing.

I always assumed the term came from the CIA/NSA sort of spy thing.
posted by magnetsphere at 7:38 AM on July 24, 2013

ook: "A plot device. This does not happen in real life."

Happened to me.

I'm not a cop, but a close friend passed suddenly and the next day his widow gave me a heavily taped bankers box that said "wife's name - Do Not Open - Give to Sphinx" on the top.

After checking out that it wasn't anything fun and exciting, or something the widow may have needed, I burned the contents.
posted by Sphinx at 1:10 PM on July 24, 2013

There are actually a number of services which have been set up to do this.

It seems risky to hand your important secrets (passwords? account numbers?) to a free web service that might get hacked long before you die.
posted by pracowity at 6:58 AM on July 25, 2013