What are Scene Investigators?

Medicolegal death investigators, or sometimes referred to as scene investigators, are those individuals who have been trained to respond to the scene and conduct a thorough investigation of the circumstances surrounding a death. Ideally these investigators would bring some type of medical experience and/or law enforcement experience to their jobs. The Mesa County Coroner’s Office should ensure their investigators are highly trained and experienced individuals. The Office should also require their investigators be certified through the national organization American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators either upon hire or shortly after they are hired. Not every death reported to the Mesa County Coroner’s Office requires the investigator to respond to the scene to do an investigation. Some deaths, particularly those in hospitals, require only an investigation done strictly by phone interviews and medical record review. The medicolegal death investigator plays a very important role in the death investigation. The information they gather can be invaluable to the forensic pathologist and/or Coroner and therefore it is very important the investigators are properly trained and comfortable with their investigative skills.