Panel Opposes Sheriff-Coroner Split

Citing the potential for added costs to taxpayers, the Orange County Grand Jury on Wednesday recommended that the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and coroner’s office remain under one roof.

When Sheriff Mike Carona campaigned for office last year, he suggested separating the two departments to eliminate concerns about possible conflicts of interest. The grand jury agreed to investigate his proposal but on Wednesday said the two offices “should remain intact.”

“It is the most efficient arrangement for the county in terms of costs and efficiency of investigations,” wrote grand juror Chris Duran, the primary author of the study. “There are policies in effect right now that are extremely comprehensive to eliminate potential for conflict of interest.”

In a statement released Wednesday, Carona said the grand jury’s report confirmed what he has learned about the sheriff-coroner operation since taking office in January.

It is “an efficient, well-run, often copied example of what other counties aspire to be,” he said. “In light of the grand jury’s report and recommendations that the department remain consolidated . . . it is in the best interests of the citizens of Orange County to retain the coroner’s function within [the sheriff’s] organization.”

The work of the Sheriff’s Department and the coroner’s office, which determines causes of deaths, was united in the early 1980s by then-Sheriff Brad Gates. He created a central county morgue that was under his authority and took control of autopsies away from far-flung mortuaries. He deflected attempts to take the coroner’s operation from his agency in the 1980s.

Sheriff’s deputies have traditionally investigated deaths involving law enforcement officers--from shootings in which a suspect is injured or killed, to inmate fatalities to incidents in which an officer is slain in the line of duty.

Over the years, though, the agency has faced criticism that the close relationship between the Sheriff’s Department and coroner’s office could lead to tainted investigations.

A 1985 grand jury report also raised these issues and led authorities to take steps to address these concerns. Since then, the Orange County district attorney’s office has led investigations into all officer-involved deaths. Also, a forensic pathologist from another county is called in to perform a videotaped autopsy in an officer-involved death, and grand jury members are invited to further review autopsy results.

The only exception is Huntington Beach, which signed an agreement in 1990 that authorizes sheriff’s deputies to investigate officer deaths. The district attorney then reviews the findings. Huntington Beach authorities say their system offers more objectivity.

Forty-one of the 58 counties in the state operate under similar sheriff-coroner systems. The rest have independently elected or appointed coroners, or medical examiners.