Ever wonder so few officer involved deaths are ruled a Homicide in CA? Here might be the reason why: In 48 Counties in CA Coroners are staff in the Sheriffs Department. They are Law enforcement. Even worse one private for profit company does nearly 25% of CA Counties autopsy's. Seriously, Do you think any of the Coroners (public Sheriffs Dept Employees or private for profit company's) would ever determine a law enforcement caused death as a Homicide?
First there are no National Standards for this type of work:
With no national oversight of forensic pathologists or standards that dictate who can do autopsy work http://californiawatch.org/...
Most Sheriffs in CA Determine the manner of Death for all deaths in their county.
Manner of death, which is printed on death certificates, is a far more subjective conclusion. All deaths fall into one of five categories: natural, accident, homicide, suicide and undetermined.
In 48 of California’s 58 counties, the sheriff decides the manner of death. The state has only two medical examiner offices (in San Diego and San Francisco counties), though the Los Angeles County coroner's office operates under a forensic pathologist’s direction.
The combined “sheriff-coroner” setup is different from much of the country, where coroners officially are independent from law enforcement.
Whether affiliated with police or not, most elected officials who oversee death investigations have little to no medical training http://californiawatch.org/...
Now private for-profit firms have weaseled their way into the system in CA. Would they ever do a report that would lose them their contract?
Without competition, private firm reaps millions in autopsy work
Forensic Medical Group Inc. faced little competition as the private firm grew into Northern California’s largest autopsy provider.
Founded in 1975 by a Vacaville forensic pathologist who has since retired, the firm has filled a niche in a part of California starved for autopsy services, where sheriff-coroners often ruled on deaths of undetermined cause based solely on medical records and death scene reports.
Forensic Medical Group expanded from serving three counties to more than a dozen during the tenure of Dr. Brian Peterson, who led the firm for nearly 15 years until he joined the Milwaukee Medical Examiner’s Office in 2007.
The firm’s total revenue is proprietary, but it had more than $3 million in autopsy billings in 2009, up about 30 percent from 2006, records show. http://californiawatch.org/...
While California has three different ways Coroner work is done, there is one statewide organization to represent their interests: the
California State Coroners’ Association, (CSCA) which lists it's mission online as:
Our Mission:
It is the mission of the California State Coroners’ Association, (CSCA) to support and represent the interest of coroners, sheriff coroners, and medical examiners throughout the State of California in their mandated mission to determine the circumstances, manner, and cause of all violent, sudden or unusual deaths. The CSCA promotes professionalism and expertise in the field of medical-legal death investigation and works with the state’s Peace Officer Standards and Training, (POST) to develop standards for education and training and takes a lead role in addressing legislative issues affecting coroners throughout the state. The CSCA takes an active role in working with the Federal Government, the state and local governments in the management and support of disasters or emergencies. https://www.coroners.org/...
Elected coroners less likely to call deaths ‘suicide,' study finds
In the vast majority of California counties, elected sheriffs have the final say in determining the manner of death in coroners' cases.
The political element of those jobs might be reducing the number of reported suicides, according to a new study by researchers at Temple University. The sociologists found that jurisdictions where elected officials run death investigations have “slightly lower official suicide rates” than areas served by appointed medical examiners and coroners.
“The significant, albeit small, effects of office type on official suicide rates in our results support the notion that elected coroners are more susceptible to pressure from family or friends to report the death as something other than suicide and that medical examiners’ greater professionalism shields them from such influences," the report states. http://californiawatch.org/...
Lately with all the discussion about how many officer involved deaths happen each month and each year - how our Coroners system works seems especially relevant in California. on the bigger picture Matt Ford at The Atlantic writes The Missing Statistics of Criminal Justice:
After Ferguson, a noticeable gap in criminal-justice statistics emerged: the use of lethal force by the police. The federal government compiles a wealth of data on homicides, burglaries, and arson, but no official, reliable tabulation of civilian deaths by law enforcement exists. A partial database kept by the FBI is widely considered to be misleading and inaccurate. (The Washington Post has just released a more expansive total of nearly 400 police killings this year.) “It’s ridiculous that I can’t tell you how many people were shot by the police last week, last month, last year,” FBI Director James Comey told reporters in April http://www.theatlantic.com/...
Is this
Like a fox guarding a hen house?
or
Like putting the inmates in charge of the prison?
Like putting the lunatics in charge of the asylum ?
Like asking a thief to guard the bank vault ?
Like expecting the wolf to guard the sheep?
Like asking your kids to hand out the Halloween candy?
Like hiring an alcoholic to be your bartender?
Like using a monkey to watch your bananas?