MDPD Medical Examiners Project

About the Program

Category: Criminal Justice and Public Safety (Best in Category)

Year: 2011

The Miami-Dade Police Department’s (MDPD) Warrants Bureau has implemented a Medical Examiner Project to clear active warrants in the name of decedents. The objective of this initiative is to significantly reduce the number of outstanding warrants currently on file in Miami-Dade County (MDC). MDPD has established a partnership with the Miami-Dade County Medical Examiner’s Office (MDCMED) and the Florida Department of Health Bureau of Vital Statistics (DOH), and obtained computer data files with decedent information. This information is queried against the Criminal Justice Information System (CJIS) database for name comparison. A report is then generated providing a list of decedents with open warrants based on the submitted criteria. Detectives then prepare and submit an investigative lead sheet to the MDC State Attorney’s Office to be presented to a judge or magistrate for the purpose of quashing warrants of decedents. The MDCMEO and DOH provide a computer data file inclusive of decedents cases and cremations containing the names, dates of birth, race, sex, social security number, and the MDCMEO decedent case number. All information is utilized in confidence with respect to the deceased and their families.