| Bryan Snyder |
posted Friday, March 8th 2002
Coroners meeting new state requirements
By Joe Gerrety, Journal and Courier
Newcomers to Indiana frequently are surprised to find out that their coroner is the local undertaker, the high school nurse, or -- in Tippecanoe County's case -- a veterinarian.
But despite the fact that the role of the coroner in Indiana is, by state constitution, an administrative job, the state is more progressive about death investigations than many think.
Indiana became the first state to require all deputy coroners to be Certified Medicolegal Death Investigators in 2000. As of Jan. 1, that certification -- or progress toward it -- is required in order for a deputy coroner in Indiana to handle a death case.
But Tippecanoe County is one of only 15 of the state's 92 counties to date that has all of its deputies certified.
Progress is being made in other counties. According to Lisa Barker, executive director of the Indiana State Coroners Training Board and Indiana State Coroners Association, 435 of the state's 561 coroners and deputy coroners have begun the certification process, and 216 (including 40 elected coroners) have received their certification.
Those who have been through the training said it means death investigations in Tippecanoe County will be handled more professionally: Family members of the deceased will receive compassionate attention; crime scenes will be preserved; and families and insurance companies will receive accurate rulings about cause and manner of death.
"It really gave me a whole new perspective of looking at the overall picture of a death investigation," said deputy coroner Eric Christensen, who has been certified since August 1999.
"The bad guys get to go free if we don't do our jobs right," said deputy coroner Jane Haan, who has been certified since June 1999.
Tippecanoe County Coroner Martin "Dave" Avolt, a former member of the Coroners Training Board, was one of a dozen Indiana coroners who pushed for the certification requirement, partly in response to deficiencies pointed out during the O.J. Simpson murder trial in California.
"The average citizen doesn't realize the parameters that were set forth because of that case," Avolt said.
The Simpson murder case set a precedent for criminal defense attorneys challenging every piece of physical evidence gathered in a homicide case.
"That's what we try to drive home with (deputy coroners) -- you touch it, you put your name on it. You make sure it gets there," Avolt said.
Because the coroner is a constitutionally created office, Avolt and other elected coroners are not required to be certified -- only their deputies. But Avolt, a 26-year veteran of the coroner's office, received his certification with the first class in November 1998.
"The main thing, bar none, is to bring some respect to the job," Avolt said.
A tough test
Tippecanoe County has eight deputy coroners who work on a contract basis in an on-call rotation. They are paid $100 for each death case they accept. Some take 10 minutes to resolve; others take weeks.
To become certified, deputies receive 40 hours of training in lectures and labs in areas of medicine, evidence collection, testifying in court, dealing with families, dealing with the media, and grief.
They also participate in an externship, which involves attending an autopsy during which they are quizzed by a forensic pathologist and required to draw fluids from a corpse.
Finally, they must pass all sections of a 300-question, four-hour multiple choice exam by correctly answering 80 percent of the questions in each of eight subject areas.
"It is a hard test," said Haan, a deputy coroner for five years who has been the Tippecanoe office's administrator since 1997. "If you had been doing it for years and you didn't study the book, you wouldn't pass it."
Christensen learned that first-hand. Despite being a nationally registered paramedic, it took him three attempts to pass the medical section of the exam.
"I just figured I knew it, and didn't study the material," said Christensen, a full-time student who recently earned his bachelor's degree in aviation administration and soon will begin graduate studies.
Juggling hats
Haan said some other deputies struggled in their own areas of expertise, partly because they had focused their studies in the areas with which they were less familiar.
John Cox, a crime scene technician for the Purdue University Police Department, became a deputy coroner in August 2000 and was certified a year ago.
It took him two tries to pass the evidence section of the exam. He had to learn that coroners take a more neutral approach to evidence gathering than police detectives.
"When you get into the medicolegal death investigation, my job is not to put the bad guy in jail," Cox said. "I had to take my police officer hat off and put on my coroner hat."
Avolt's list of deputies also includes police officers from Tippecanoe County and Lafayette, a funeral director, a high school teacher and an office manager.
Still, Cox said, his training as a deputy coroner has improved his skills as an evidence technician and vice versa.
"It's been a real good mix," said Cox, who lives in Benton County and ran unsuccessfully for coroner there in 2000.
"You can't knock having skilled people investigating a death scene," Cox said. "Anymore, you can hardly afford not to."
Harrison
High School
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