We asked the following question to Lee Lofland (www.leelofland.com) , author of Police Procedure and Investigation - A Guide for Writers and an expert in Crime Scene Investigations:
"When does a forensic pathologist visit a crime scene?""
The answer:
Most police departments and sheriff's offices have a standard operating procedure (SOP) regarding the notification of the medical examiner or coroner (some locations have coroners while others have medical examiners). That protocol usually requires officers to call the medical examiner/coroner any time there's a suspicious death in their jurisdiction.
A medical examiner is appointed (hired) by a governing body, such as county commisioners or the governor of a state. Medical examiners must be a licensed forensic pathologist - a medical doctor. A coroner is an elected official who, in many states, is not required to be a medical doctor. In fact, in many areas, the only requirement for someone to be a coroner is that they be a registered voter in the area where they seek office. In some counties the sheriff is coroner. Other localities may elect funeral directors, tow truck drivers, or even the local ticket-taker from the movie theater. Non-doctor coroners employ forensic pathologists to conduct autopsies, but it is the coroner who signs the death certificate.
A medical examiner/coroner, or someone from their staff, normally visits the scene of any suspicious death - suicide, murder, if the deceased is under the age of eighteen, accidental death, a death that occurs in a prison or jail, and sometimes if the death is the result of an automobile accident.
At the scene of a crime, the medical examiner/coroner is in charge of the body. Detectives are in charge of the crime scene and gathering evidence. Medical examiners do not conduct criminal investigations and they don't make arrests. Likewise, detectives don't poke and prod on a dead body. The medical examiner's duty is to determine the cause and time of death. A detective's job is to solve the crime.
Lee Lofland is a veteran police detective and the author of Police Procedure and Investigation, A Guide For Writers. Lee has worked as a uniformed officer, a detective supervisor, and as an undercover officer. He’s solved cases in areas including narcotics, homicide, rape, murder-for-hire, and ritualistic and occult crimes. Lee lives in the Boston area where he serves as a board member for the New England chapter of Mystery Writers of America. He consults for many bestselling authors, and he writes for various newspapers, newsletters, and freelance articles for publications, such as The Writer magazine. Lee recently appeared in the BBC documentary, How to Commit the Perfect Murder. His current projects are a children's book that's scheduled for release in 2008, and a mystery novel.
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