The Chief Medical Examiner may appoint persons who are not physicians as medicolegal death investigators, who have statewide jurisdiction and serve at the pleasure of the Chief Medical Examiner, subject to the Chief Medical Examiner’s control and rules adopted by the Chief Medical Examiner. Medicolegal death investigators must meet the certification and training requirements established by the Chief Medical Examiner and must be residents of this State. Medicolegal death investigators may be employees of the Office of Chief Medical Examiner or serve on a fee-for-service basis as determined by the Chief Medical Examiner. A medicolegal death investigator before entering upon the duties of the office must be duly sworn to the faithful performance of the medicolegal death investigator’s duty. [PL 2017, c. 475, Pt. A, §35 (AMD).]

The Chief Medical Examiner may implement a training and education program to enhance the technical and oversight expertise of the Office of Chief Medical Examiner and Medicolegal Death Investigator I positions. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, employees in the Medicolegal Death Investigator I classification who participate in the training and education program and who demonstrate that they have achieved competencies prescribed by the Chief Medical Examiner may progress immediately to the senior position in this classification series. [PL 2019, c. 343, Pt. LL, §1 (NEW).]