Public Employee Press

Death Scene Detectives
Local 768 Medicolegal Investigators are OCME's first responders

"May the dead teach the living."

By DIANE S. WILLIAMS

The acrid stench of death fills a dark apartment packed with old newspapers, hubcaps, radio parts and bags of junk. The hoarder who lived there is dead.

A City Medicolegal Investigator (MLI), the eyes and ears of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, will search the scene and examine the body to identify it and find the cause of death.

Local 768 MLIs - the city's first responders to death - are licensed Physician's Assistants. Their job is to find the preliminary physical cause of death, whether trauma, poison, bullets or natural causes, piece together the last hours of the deceased, and notify the next of kin.

Their credo is "Mortui vivis praecipiant," Latin for "May the dead teach the living."

"We are usually the first to arrive. It can be on the subway tracks, in an alley, or a home. We move the corpses to do full posterior and anterior exams at the scene," said MLI Supervisor Daniel Cooney. "It's much more than you see on TV. We don't have one-tenth the technology to investigate these deaths. We see really nasty things."

Whether called by Police, 911 or hospitals, MLIs dispatched from the OCME's central office on Manhattan's First Avenue race to the location of the body. "No matter where it occurs in the five boroughs, the case becomes the jurisdiction of the OCME," said MLI shop steward Alex Leung.

MLIs work swiftly and professionally, interviewing NYPD detectives and medical professionals to get X-rays and health and dental records to identify the victim. They photograph and examine the death scene, inspect or even exhume bodies, working constantly on the phone and around the clock. They must often testify in court on the issues related to the death, especially in high-profile cases.

Their accurate reports - written so that through the dead, the living may learn - go to the Chief Medical Examiner, who determines if an autopsy is required. MLIs also identify life-threatening dangers and coordinate actions to remove and correct public safety hazards.

"We call and console next of kin, and often provide counseling, understanding and education to grieving relatives," said Cooney. In some cases sensitive information is revealed - a way of life or an illness the family was unaware of.

"Deaths of children and youths are the most difficult, and when a Police Officer's life is cut short," Cooney said.

"Unlike the Fire and Police departments, which have debriefing sessions after traumatic experiences, MLIs get no psychiatric support from the OCME," said Local 768 President Fitz Reid.

"This vital public service - the science of determining what specifically led to a person's death and disclosing that to the surviving kin - is a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week calling," said DC 37 Executive Director Henry Garrido. "Our hardworking and dedicated Medicolegal Investigators in Local 768 are licensed professionals who readily answer the complex responsibilities and long hours OCME demands."

The nature of the job and the advanced education required make it hard to recruit employees. In the last six years, attrition and a protracted hiring freeze have shrunk their ranks by a substantial 40 percent. DC 37 is pressing Albany to reclassify the job as physically taxing.

"The OCME assigns MLIs to work alone and carry a significantly higher caseload. The Supervisors are given out of-title-administrative duties that distract them from actively focusing on investigations," Reid said.

"In relation to the recent cop shootings and public responses at scenes, MLIs have serious concerns for their safety," said Leung. "While Police and EMS protocols have now been changed to send workers out in pairs, we are having a difficult time getting management to address the issues of safety and staff shortages." DC37 has requested labor management meetings with OCME to address these issues.