[1]Coroner Warren McLeod takes a brief break from writing a grant application at his Chehalis office
By Sharyn L. Decker
Lewis County Sirens news reporter
CHEHALIS – Lewis County’s first new coroner in almost three decades has gained accreditation for his office, fourteen months into his four-year term.
Warren McLeod announced yesterday the stamp of approval by the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners.
“We’re excited about it, we’re accredited now,” McLeod said this afternoon.
The certification makes his one of three coroner’s offices in Washington state which are accredited. The Cowlitz County Coroner’s Office earned its accreditation on Monday and Franklin County gained partial accreditation – because it does not have an autopsy suite – before that, he said.
It means they’re conducting operations in compliance with standards set by the professional group.
The process began last summer and ended on Tuesday with an on-site inspection by a pair of auditors from the IACME, according to McLeod.
“You have to show you have a written policy to meet each standard,” McLeod said. “When I came in, there were no written policies at all.”
His office now has a 180-page policy and procedural manual.
Although reluctant to compare his office with the previous longtime administration of Lewis County Coroner Terry Wilson, McLeod said he thinks it’s a step in the right direction to restoring citizens’ faith they have a coroner’s office they can be proud of.
Wilson ended his 28-year reign with his chief deputy coroner getting arrested for driving under the influence of prescription medications, falling asleep repeatedly as she was questioned by a trooper on her way to work.
When Wilson left office in December 2010, he was still embroiled in a years-long battle over his label of suicide in the 1998 death in Toledo of former trooper Ronda Reynolds. A judicial review concluded Wilson’s finding was incorrect, arbitrary and capricious. A coroner’s inquest last October ruled it a homicide.
McLeod, who teaches forensics at South Puget Sound Community College in Olympia, said probably the most important change he has made is the “chain of custody” issue with the medications they collect from deceased individuals.
Now, all narcotics are counted and put into an evidence bag at the scene – witnessed by a second person – and then stored in the sheriff’s office evidence facility.
It hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing for the new coroner.
Earlier this year, evidence from a 2010 triple homicide turned up in the work locker of a former deputy coroner, never getting into the hands of law enforcement or attorneys in the case before the trial. McLeod said it was collected during the autopsies in 2010 before he took office.
About 14 coroners offices around the country are currently accredited by the IACME, according to its executive administrator Nicole Coleman. Medical examiners’ offices are accredited by a different association, she said.
IACME has been in existence since 1927, but only began the accreditation program in about 2005, according to Coleman. Twenty-nine more counties are currently in the process, she said.
“There are over 130 standards they have to meet, and they’re pretty strict,” Coleman said.
The certification has to be re-examined every five years.
In what Coleman said was a coincidence of scheduling, the two auditors from IACME who visited Chehalis this week are McLeod’s former bosses, the coroner and assistant coroner from the Clark County Office of the Coroner / Medical Examine in Las Vegas.
McLeod said that put more pressure on him, because he used to work for them and now he has his own office.
The Lewis County’s Coroner’s Office achieved an overall compliance rate of 94 percent, combining the categories of administration, facilities, forensics and investigative standards.
“What we were really impressed with was the “investigative” got 100 percent,” McLeod said.
McLeod said some of the areas he fell short in involve equipment he can’t afford, such as a body scale and a X-ray light box.
One of the standards however was showing he has a mass fatality plan in place.
He took delivery on Tuesday of a mass fatality trailer, something that can be pre-loaded with body bags, generators, extra lighting and other supplies should the worst happen.
The navy blue unit is about the size of a horse trailer and cost $2,500, according to McLeod. It was funded with a grant.
“There’s a lot going on here, I’m excited, very excited,” McLeod said.
He now has eight deputy coroners and two more in training.
“The staff really pulled together to get this done,” he said. “It’s not Warren McLeod, it’s the office.”
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Correction: This has been updated to reflect the new trailer cost $2,500 and not $11,000 as McLeod mistakenly said.