The accreditation of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s Medical Examiner’s Department was downgraded recently, not because of a lack of skill by the state’s official forensic pathologists, but because of their large caseload.
GBI Director Chris Hosey told Georgia lawmakers about it during his budget presentation Thursday morning.
He said the GBI has 19 medical examiner positions, but only 12 of them are filled, mostly because of a nationwide shortage of ME’s.
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“There’s a nationwide shortage of medical examiners already,” Hosey told Channel 2′s Richard Elliot. “1,500 are needed across the country, and they’re not there.”
Hosey said national standards ask that an individual medical examiner perform 250 autopsies a year, but the ME’s in Georgia perform more than 400 a year.
“Not only is that a large number of autopsies to conduct, but it takes a toll on our doctors, as well, and the staff,” he said. “That’s another good reason to take a deep, hard look to see how we can improve it.”
Hosey said the GBI is using a multi-pronged approach to attract more forensic pathologists to Georgia including student loan forgiveness, fellowship programs, anything they can come up with to make the agency stand out among all the other states competing for a small number of ME’s.
Georgia State Patrol Colonel Bill Hitchens told the same group of lawmakers that, while they’re having no trouble recruiting new troopers and other staff members, they are having difficulty retaining them for more than ten years.
Hitchens said 55% of his troopers and 80% of his dispatchers have been with the patrol for less than nine years.
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He has a goal of having 1,000 troopers on the streets, but currently, they’re at 82% of that goal.
The governor’s current budget proposal would bring starting pay for troopers to $63,000 a year.
“I would say we’re doing pretty good with recruitment,” Hitchens told lawmakers. “Our big issue is retention. We’re all competing with other people trying to bring people into our profession.”
Both Hosey and Hitchens praised the Governor’s budget proposals for their offices.
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