Inquiring minds wanna know...

So just how was our trip to the coronor's office?

Well first of all..."I didn't see dead people" There is no viewing at the coronor's office...even for the next-of-kin.

I should back up...

The coronor's office for my county is located inside the courthouse/jail facility. {kinda funny, you can get married, go to court and or jail, and have your body processed all in the same building.} So there is a security scan at the front door.

When I first arrived I checked at the security station to make sure I was in the right location. I informed the guard that I was there for a tour and would go back outside to wait for the rest of my group. When we had all arrived (YAY group! For everyone to arrive and be on time is quite an accomplishment!) we proceded to the security station.

The guard decided that we did not need to take off all our metal and have it x-rayed. He thought it would be fun for the kids to see what it was like to set off the metal detectors. So we went through and most of the kids did not set off the sensor...all of the adults did (keys!) Darly's eyeglass case did set it off.

Then it was off to the coronor's office. And for the most part it looked just like any other office...upstairs. They had a spreadsheet with all the cases they were working up on a plasma TV monitor...but that soon disappeared. We were later told that the screen replaced all the whiteboards that were still hanging on the wall. I think the computer screen is probably a better idea as they can turn it off when they have guests to protect the privacy of the families. (while I didn't see it on the screen, I know that they are currently working on a murder/suicide that happened a few days ago in my town.)

We met the chief deputy coronor, the coronor was not in the office at the time of our visit. There are 4 investigators in the office, we got to meet three.

Then it was time to go downstairs to the morgue. We got to see the door of the evidence room. It is locked with a fingerprint scan device (you know they proved on Mythbusters that you cannot crack those!) There was a couch in that area because that used to be their front office, they just recently expanded into the upstairs offices...they were really jammed in there before!

Next we got to see the first morgue (with the expanding of offices they now have two morgues...where before they just had the one.) We were shown the video camera that records the autopsy and can send feed to a room upstairs for the law enforcement folks to watch (they aren't allowed in the morgue like you see on TV...they could contaminate something!)

Normally we would have been able to go into the frig but it was occupied so no visit today. Our guide told us that it is just like a walk-in frig, only instead of food on the shelves there are bodies. There was a set of individual body coolers (for lack of knowing what the correct term for it is) but unlike you see on TV there was only room for 3 there. We didn't ask as we noticed it at the last moment in the room, but I would assume that they used that for autopsies in progress...and since they only have two tables there would not be a need for more than 3 at a time.

We next saw the second morgue that included the pathologist's desk (a very small table with a few files and a computer.) We were told that the pathologist works for a few different counties and isn't in this office every day. I would have to assume that this pathologist is a very busy person as we were told that our county was "swamped" at the moment and that the next county was also "swamped."

Then it was on to the garage. In the garage they have a scale that is tared with the weight of their gurneys so they can weigh the bodies as they arrive. The garage door is closed any time a body is being loaded or unloaded to protect the privacy of the deceased. Bodies being released to the funeral home are picked up there with the door closed.

We got to see one of the investigator's vehicles. They use a large SUV for this. Looking at it you wouldn't suspect that it was from the coronor's office and that is on purpose. They also use the SUV because it has the ability to get up into the mountains easier than say a herst or ambulance. The investigator we spoke with said he had done numerous water recoveries and one rapelling recovery (that's where you go down a mountain on ropes). The vehicles do have flashing lights like on an unmarked police car, this is only so that the investigator can gain access to the scene (there is an officer that the investigators have to check in and out with at every scene), since there is no hurry the lights aren't used for anything else.

We got to ask loads of questions. One that really stuck in my mind was that if you live in one county but were to die in another county (say I was going to see my MIL and died on the way) the body would be taken to and processed at the coronor's office in the county where you die and then because you're a resident of the other county that county would be notified.

And yes the coronor's offices do work together and help eachother out. Many of the smaller population counties near ours use this office...and if there were a mass casulty accident all the counties would help out.

While I had a great time on this field trip, Darly was totally not interested. However, I don't think that she'll be mad at me forever. LOL! After the tour we went next door to the animal shelter and got to visit all the cute critters that were up for adoption. There were two (purebread looking) black lab puppies that had already found a new home. And loads of very cute cats. I of course was looking at the rabbits. I wanted to take them all.

One of the volunteers asked if we needed any help and I told her that we were just visiting after touring the coronor's office and if I adopted another pet I should just drive back there and wait for DH to finish me off. She laughed.