Could Fresno County Sheriff Margaret Mims become the new county coroner? That's an idea the board of supervisors is now considering, after voting to look into combining the coroner's and sheriff offices. However, a recently released Grand Jury report shows that wouldn't be a good idea.
The Fresno County Coroner's position is on the chopping block.
Fresno county coroner Dr. David Hadden says, "I was absolutely shocked to think of it going backwards into a sheriff-coroner system."
Last week, the Fresno County board of supervisors voted to explore the option of giving coroner duties to the sheriff.
Fresno County sheriff Margaret Mims says, "It's not something I asked for, however if the board makes a decision to do it then we're going to do a great job at it."
Fresno county supervisor Debbie Poochigian says, "We can see if we can be more efficient save money and look what the other counties do in the Central Valley."
According to Dr. Hadden and Sheriff Mims, the proposal wouldn't save any money.
"We would need to put somebody in there just to oversee the operations of the office, so I'm not sure cost savings would be possible. It might be flat," says Sheriff Mims.
Hadden's biggest concern is a conflict of interest that could come with mixing medical professionals and law enforcement.
Dr. Hadden says, "When there's an officer involved shooting than the sheriff, under the proposed system, would be investigating what one of her officer's did."
"We've got a great model for how to set up the organizational structure to reduce even the appearance of a conflict," says Sheriff Mims.
Thursday, the Fresno Grand Jury issued a report recommending the two departments remain separate. It also says the requirements to run for coroner should at least include being a licensed medical doctor. Currently, the position only requires being 18 years of age and a registered voter in Fresno County.
The board of supervisors is scheduled to vote on the issue December 3rd. If it does pass, the changes would not take effect until 2015.