Police Morgue Setup

DavidZahir · Dec 3, 2009

This is for a niggling idea at the back of my head.

Assume a city in California, roughly the size of San Francisco but not that city itself ('twill probably be a fictional city roughly where Humbolt Bay is in the real world).

How is such a place set up? Presumably someone is in charge, who is probably a Forensic Pathologist, and some other Pathologists are on staff. They must have assistants or attendants to do the non-advanced stuff (like bring bodies back and forth for autopsy). Plus people who have to clean the place.

Is there clerical staff? I would assume so. Any overview would be much appreciated. I'm trying to decide what job a certain person would have--because this guy is methodical and has access to quite a bit of information about murders in this city. He also is mostly unsupervised on a day-to-day basis, provided the work clearly gets done. I should mention he isn't squeamish.

I just don't want to make any obvious errors, and I've not found any source of good information on this.

Thanks in advance!

PeterL · Dec 3, 2009

Generally the morgue would be run by the coroner/medical examiner, and it would process any bodies that needed, not just police business. At night there probably would be one person on duty. There would be the coroner, a couple of assistants, one or two clerical personnel, a custodian, and maybe a gofer or an assistant custodian. I don't hang around such places, but I am acquainted with people who do. There is a huge variation in staffing levels in places like that. A city of a half million doesn't produce much business for such an operation.

Rowan · Dec 3, 2009

I was just researching the medical examiner/morgue angle for my MS...

I pulled the website for my local office and then the district offices (couldn't get anyone on staff to assist me but I was able to find out that the District Office employs a Deputy Chief ME and three MEs). Also found out via 'net search that most morgues employ autopsy technicians (another term is "diener") who clean and prep the bodies for autopsy. And yes, there is a clerical/admin staff as expected. I think you have some flexibility here (receptionist, family counselor of sorts and whatnot). I'm thinking your character could be a diener/autopsy technician. From what I learned they're unsupervised for the most part.

I'll e-mail you the position descriptions I pulled for the autopsy techs!

C.M. Daniels · Dec 6, 2009

I'm a deputy coroner in a small county and I work almost entirely unsupervised.

I've found the best way to keep up on crime statistics of any sort in my area is to talk to the admin staff, law enforcement officers, and the people around me in the medicolegal system.

As far as setup of the office, that's a varied as counties across the country. Some places do their own autopsies and others have to contract out to larger ME/Coroner's departments due to budgets and lack of qualified staff. Other times, the morgue is part of the county hospital. It just depends on where you're at. Most places I've seen, there's the science side where bodies are brought in, stored, and worked on, and the office side, where the administrative stuff takes place. Your best bet is to get out and see if you can't speak to some CA coroners and figure out how the system works in your area.

Good luck.

RobinGBrown · Dec 7, 2009

I used to go out with a forensic pathologist in the UK.

There are fewer people at a morgue than you would expect and morgues aren't that big either.

I believe, apart from the FP, there might be one asistant to move the bodies and one clerk for paperwork. Maybe up to two of each for a bigger/busier place. My FP friend would visit several morgues on a working day and did about 800 examinations in a year.

Police Morgue Setup

DavidZahir

Malkavian Primogen

PeterL

Rowan

C.M. Daniels

Cinnamon, sit. Bad fish!

RobinGBrown

New kid, be gentle!