BENTONVILLE — Daniel Oxford said his goal as Benton County coroner was to rebuild public confidence in the office and establish a relationship of trust with the county’s law enforcement agencies. The office suffered a blow in 2006 and 2007, when then-Coroner Kimberly Scott was accused of taking drugs from the homes of dead hospice patients.
Oxford said he began to organize and operate the coroner’s office on a professional basis, seeking training for himself and his deputies, and establishing written policies and practices that mirrored the best models available.
“I was elected in 2008 and took office in 2009,” Oxford said. “After the Kimberly Scott issue, I wanted to be able to improve the image of the coroner’s office. I wanted to have something the deputies and the people of Benton County could be proud of.”
Scott was arrested in 2006 and accused of taking drugs from death scenes. She resigned in July 2007 as part of a plea agreement just before she was to be tried on two felony and two misdemeanor charges over the missing drugs. Wesley Lewis was named interim coroner.
Oxford was chief deputy coroner at the time and ran for office himself in 2008. After his election, he said, he set to work repairing the relationship between the coroner’s office and law enforcement officials.
“I wanted law enforcement to be able to trust us, and I wanted to have credibility in the judicial system if we ever had to testify in court,” he said Monday.
Oxford sought, and recently received, a certificate of accreditation from the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners as part of his effort to raise the level of professionalism in his office.
He said the association has a checklist of 130 standards that include administrative, forensic, investigative and facility reviews. To retain that accreditation, Oxford said, his office has to continue regular training for the coroner and deputies, conduct annual internal audits and submitto external audits every five years.
Capt. Mike Sydoriak with the Benton County sheriff’s office said he is pleased about Oxford’s efforts.
“We’ve had all kinds of coroners in Benton County,” Sydoriak said. “It’s good that he’s getting training like that. It can only help; it can’t hinder.”
Sydoriak said that because the coroner pronounces a person dead, investigators need a good working relationship with the coroner’s office so they can do their jobs unhindered and allow the coroner or his deputies to do theirs. He said a well-trained coroner or deputy might bring added insight to a crime scene.
“When I started, two of the first coroners we had worked for funeral homes,” Sydoriak said. “They had no training at all. He’s brought the department along quite well.”
County Judge Dave Bisbee said he’s pleased to see the coroner’s office working well.
“I think he’s done a great job,” Bisbee said. “The coroner’s office has not been in the newspapers, there’s been no controversy. Clearly, he’s doing a great job to upgrade that office.
“When you’ve got a county of a quarter of a million people, that’s no small job.”
Arkansas, Pages 11 on 07/31/2010