Are death investigators a part of public service?

#39

January 20, 2023

https://1stresponderconferences.org

I will be sharing my story at the 1st Responders Conferences in Ocean City MD at the end of March and I would love to see you there! If you are not local, this group travels all over the country to put on 2-day seminar about responder fitness, finances, relationships, mental health, and other important topics to living a long well balanced life in this career. Check out the link to see if they’ll be in your neighborhood!

I’m excited to represent the Medical Examiner community at this conference and provide some insight into what it means to be a last responder. At some agencies I worked for, I was on the wrong side of the thin blue/red line and at another, I was considered a part of the brotherhood. While only some of us wear badges or carry guns, only some of us make death notifications, only some of us make our own removals or help eviscerate, all of us answer the call at all hours of the day and night to some pretty unsafe locations. Do you receive Hazard Duty pay? A coroner’s office in South Carolina is working to add language to the S.C. Code of Laws in order to protect our workforce and their families with H3691 Coroner as a First Responder Bill. A few years ago a Deputy Coroner in Colleton County was killed in the line of duty. His family was DENIED federal benefits as we are not designated "Public Safety Officers.” What do you think about this?

Wherever you are this weekend, please be safe.

Kat

Katharine Pope, MA, D-ABMDI