Deputy Coroners

The Lewis County Coroner's Office employs Deputy Coroners who respond to locations where deaths have occurred in order to conduct medicolegal death investigations. Deputy Coroners are not law enforcement personnel but do work very closely in conducting investigations with all of the law enforcement agencies in the county. The Lewis County Coroner's Office currently has The Elected Coroner, Chief Deputy Coroner, one full-time Deputy Coroner, one part-time Deputy Coroner, and six on-call Deputy Coroners. The on-call Deputy Coroner position is classified as "extra help" and they work from home on call. When they receive a call they respond to the location and they get paid for the hours they work on the investigation. These can range from 4-6 hours for a natural death investigation and have run up to 8-10 hours on more complicated cases such as homicides, accidentals, undetermined, suicides and child deaths.

The requirements to be considered for Deputy Coroner are:

  1. Highschool diploma/GED
  2. Minimum 21 years of age
  3. Minimum of two (2) years experience in conducting death investigation or providing direct hands-on patient care in an emergency medical setting
  4. One (1) year of accredited college/university in a related field (criminal justice, forensics, anthropology) can be applied towards one year of experience.
  5. Successful completion of the Lewis County Coroner Reserve Deputy Coroner Training Program and one year of experience as Reserve Deputy Coroner may be substituted for the required experience.

All applicants must pass a criminal background check and provide a driving abstract.

Once hired, Deputy Coroners undergo an in-house and field training program. All new Deputy Coroners are on probation for approximately 3-6 months. Once signed off as being competent Deputy Coroners respond on their own to calls. All LCCO employees then undergo annual evaluations. All Deputy Coroners participate in regular in-house training as well as outside conferences and seminars.

It is required by state Law, that within 18 months of being hired as a Deputy Coroner, the employee will successfully complete Core Medicolegal Forensic Investigation Training, a 40 hour course that will result in certification (required per RCW 43.101.480).

Currently there are 9 Deputy Coroners (1 Chief, 1 FTE, 1 PTE, 6 "on-call" Deputy Coroners)

4 Reserve Deputy Coroners (non-paid volunteers)

Current ABMDI Certified Staff: 3

Core Certified Staff: 6

Education of the investigative staff:

1 Master's Degree

2 Bachelor's Degrees

2 Associates Degrees