Union County Coroner Stormey Primm passed his American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators exam this month, earning his Registry Certification and bringing a new level of experience to the office.
“It feels good. It’s a major accomplishment,” Primm said. “I didn’t know what to expect going in; it’s really a test that a lot of people don’t know about it … so to say that you knew what was coming, it wasn’t true. But I’ve had some good mentors.”
In Arkansas, there are 20 other active ABMDI Registry certification-holders, Primm said. In six months, Primm will sit for a second ABMDI exam in hopes of earning his Board certification from them; there are only two Board certified ABMDI members in Arkansas currently.
“It is an initial certification that provides official recognition that an individual has required basic knowledge toward the MDI (medicolegal death investigation) field,” Primm explained.
The exam didn’t include any specific training, though there were many experience requirements Primm had to meet. Along with 640 hours on the job as either a coroner, coroner’s deputy or medical examiner, he had to perform some specific tasks in order to qualify for testing.
“It has to do with interacting with other agencies, communication, interacting with families, death investigations, evidence preservation, legal and ethical and scientific knowledge and then dealing with stress,” he said. “So those are the different things, and in between all of those, there’s 52 different categories you have to touch on.”
One of Primm’s primary platforms when he ran for coroner last year was increasing staff education standards. Arkansas recently created their own medicolegal death investigation certification, called ARMDI.
Of the four deputies currently serving in the coroner’s office, one has already completed their ARMDI certification. Primm said he intends to see the other three deputies complete that certification before the year is over.
“The certifications just look good, but it’s the education that matters,” Primm said. “My next step from here, I’ve got two other deputies that are going to sit for their ABMDI certifications this year.”
Some of the deputies have completed advanced training courses as well, on topics such as death investigation photography and aquatic-death investigations. For his Board certification, Primm will also take some advanced classes.
Primm said the benefit of increasing education standards is that it standardizes both his and his deputies’ approach to death scenes. Eventually, he’d like to have his entire staff ABMDI certified.
“[It] makes sure that whenever we approach a scene, we don’t overlook the small things; we view every scene the same walking in and know what to eliminate and where to go as we walk in,” Primm said. “It also helps us interact with other agencies.”
Primm said it is hard to believe six months have already passed since he first took the office of Union County Coroner. So far, he’s loved the job.
“I look forward to a great rest of the term and hopefully many more years,” he said.
Caitlan Butler can be reached at 870-862-6611 or [email protected].