Southeast Missouri coroners weigh in on the state of the office

Legislation concerning the pay and training of coroners in the state of Missouri continues to stir conversations about working conditions and qualifications around the elected office. Rep. John Voss of Cape Girardeau has introduced two separate bills, HB 1122 and HB 2777, pushing for stricter eligibility criteria to be a coroner. Currently, the only hard prerequisites are to be 21 years old, a resident of the state for one year, and to have lived in the county for six months.

As reported in the Missouri News Network, however, many officeholders cite long hours and poor compensation as existing high barriers to entry, with large sums of counties listing the position as a part-time occupation.

According to Butler County Coroner Jim Akers, coroners throughout the state are caught in a disparity between standards, statutory expectations, and law enforcement training.

The job description

Under Revised Missouri Statute 58.451, the language dictates the coroner, “shall take charge of the dead body and fully investigate the essential facts concerning the medical causes of death, including whether by the act of man, and the manner of death.”

Akers commented this provision empowers the coroner to take a robust and primary role in investigating deaths.

“My first job is to be a conservator of the peace,” he clarified.

Akers dispatched with the notion coroners are only there to transport bodies and perform autopsies.

“It is so much more than that,” he remarked.

He felt many officeholders either do not assert themselves in this role or are not qualified to perform it. Causing further ambiguity is the fact police officers are trained at academies located in jurisdictions with medical examiners (MEs) as opposed to coroners, he commented, and MEs do not have the same statutory obligation to investigate deaths.

The disparity in understanding can cause friction which pushes the coroner out of required duties.

“There’s a training disconnect,” Akers added.

As a result, he said counties will underpay coroners because they do not see the value in the functions as performed.

“I don’t let anyone do my job for me,” Akers affirmed.

He pointed to a dearth of training as a primary challenge to officeholders in the state. With multiple bachelor’s degrees and a 15-year veteran of criminal investigations, Akers is one of the highest-paid coroners in the state at $83,642.40.

According to the public record salary aggregator Gov Salaries, the average coroner pay in Missouri is just $14,000 per year. The 90th percentile earners make $20,249.

Akers recounted Butler County made the office a full-time position in 2016 with a substantial pay increase and cost of living raises every year. He noted the call-out rate in the county continues to be a heavy load.

Butler County

With three deputies, the coroner’s office in Butler County responded to 420 calls last year, a rate greater than one per day. While he acknowledged not every county has such a substantial workload, Akers advocated for a dedicated professionalization of the coroner corps in Missouri.

“There needs to be a coroner academy,” he said, and pointed to Kentucky’s system.

Akers listed the Missouri State Highway Patrol’s homicide school, the St. Louis Medical Examiner investigation school, and evidence school as ideal requirements for coroners. He praised the Missouri Coroners Association but said the 25 hours of annual training is not nearly enough.

“There’s only so much training that can happen in 20-25 hours,” he commented.

Independent of his pre-existing qualifications, Akers maintained, “I’ve really not gotten enough training to do the job until my fifth or sixth year.”

He also said professionalized, full-time coroners are less likely to be caught up in corruption. Akers indicated part-time officeholders often work at or own funeral homes. He presented a scenario where a coroner may be tempted to change the characterization of an investigated death so that the family could get a better insurance payout and subsequently enrich his funeral home with the burial costs.

“The coroner should be independent,” Akers contended.

With pay being a concern among many officeholders, Akers pointed to a correlation between substantial qualifications and good salaries for coroners.

“I can’t be upset at the county commission,” he said. “Here locally, it’s run the way it’s supposed to be, and it works perfect.”

Stoddard County

Over in Stoddard County, Coroner Brent Stidham makes as much as the presiding commissioner, a former coroner himself, at $46,293.13. He is a full-time employee of the county with one deputy.

He graduated from Three Rivers College with a degree in criminal justice and served as a police officer for eight years.

“There are some (coroners) that aren’t qualified,” he stated. “People don’t realize that a coroner is part of emergency services.”

Stidham drew parallels between how Stoddard and Butler counties value the office of coroner. He remarked that law enforcement entities have had a positive and collaborative relationship.

“That’s never been an issue in Stoddard,” Stidham affirmed.

For coroners laboring amid low pay and taxing conditions, he advised those individuals to keep a log of everything they do. Due to the nature of the job, Sitdham noted the coroner is often working at odd hours when nobody sees it.

When coroners bring a detailed log of duties performed and hours spent per case to a county salary commission, he said they are in a much better negotiating position. However, Stidham said there were many officeholders who do not fulfill all the duties required by law.

“There are some doing it the right way, and there are some who are doing it the wrong way,” he commented.

For those who delegate the transport of bodies, do not attend autopsies, or avoid going to calls while demanding better pay, Stidham remarked, “It’s hard to have sympathy.”

Ripley County

At the other end of the pay scale, Ripley County Coroner Mike Jackson is a part-time officeholder while working at the Edwards Funeral Home in Doniphan. His salary is just $12,000.

Nevertheless, Jackson stated his contentment with the conditions of the office.

“We all sign up for it. We know what to expect,” he upheld.

Jackson’s qualification pedigree comes from a different source. The coroner’s office has been in his family since 1964. His father held the position from that year until 2000 when Jackson took over. He was deputy coroner for four years prior to taking office.

Regarding the issue of training, Jackson commented, “It’s definitely improving. We need to train and perform like it’s a professional position.”

He added he has not had issues with the county commission, though funding is always tight. While he acknowledged better qualifications and training could lead to more counties raising pay for coroners, Jackson cautioned the budget has the final say.

“In a smaller county, like ours for instance, we can’t have a medical examiner. The county can’t afford to pay for it,” he stated.

SB 1, introduced by Senator Sandy Crawford, hopes to authorize raising coroner salaries by $14,000. The Missouri state legislature previously approved a raise of the same amount in 2022, but the measure was struck down in the Missouri Supreme Court due to containing other subjects in the bill.

As with many things in local government, authorized raises have to come up against available funds. Akers recounted an example in Bollinger County where the coroner gained a salary increase from the salary commission, but the county commission refused to grant the raise.

“If the money’s not there, it’s just not there,” Jackson pointed to surrounding rural counties trying to make do with low revenue. “We’re all in the same boat.”