**********************Application Fee Waiver**********************

Employees of Erie County CSEA collective bargaining unit shall have all fees associated with County provided promotional civil service examinations waived.

Residence Requirements:

THIS EXAMINATION IS OPEN TO ALL QUALIFIED EMPLOYEES OF THE ERIE COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH.  At present there is one anticipated vacancy at the Erie County Department of Health.

Examples of Duties:

A Medical Investigator-Forensic works in the Medical Examiner’s Office investigating the cause of deaths occurring within Erie County as outlined by NYS County Law Article 17-A and receiving and caring for human remains and their property; 

Answers routine inquiries from legal or other authorities; Receives bodies as they are delivered by morgue wagon or other means;

Receives telephone requests for case reporting and/or investigation;

Investigates deaths and does a scene investigation to help determine cause and manner of death;

Makes on-scene decisions as to the type of case and what courses of action must be taken;

Determines jurisdiction in deaths reported by hospitals and other healthcare facilities;

Secures medications at scene and places in tamper-proof bag to secure custody and transports to office and logs samples into computer;

Photographs the scene as appropriate and downloads photographs to computer system;

May fingerprint the deceased;

May assist Medical Examiners in the performance of post-mortem examinations;

Provides a detailed account of the body and its conditions along with a complete description of the scene;

Reports deaths to the appropriate public agency;

Requests and secures hospital specimens as directed by Medical Examiners;

Retains personal effects of the deceased until disposition is made;

Releases bodies to undertakers or others as authorized and prepares required release forms;

Removes all personal effects, records and places property in the designated property holding area;

Tags and places remains in coolers;

Obtains medical records, police reports, ambulance records and other pertinent documentation according to Medical Examiner’s direction;

Receives requests for organ/tissue donation from local procurement agency; acts as liaison between the agency and Medical Examiners;

Works cooperatively with coroners conducting business with the office;

Performs follow-up activities, including reviewing medical records and writing comprehensive reports;

Takes x-rays of the deceased;

Takes primary responsibility for training new investigations employees;

Provides reasonable instruction to other agencies or institutions upon request;

Supervises scene investigators across all shifts;

Delegates and supervises special projects and tasks;

Assists the Medical Examiners and Division Director with disciplinary issues (as appropriate);

Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications:

QUALIFYING EXPERIENCE FOR TAKING THE TEST: Candidates must be permanently employed in the competitive class and must be serving and have served continuously on a permanent or contingent permanent basis in the competitive class for 24 months immediately preceding the date of the written test in the position of Scene Investigator and in addition the following requirements on or before the date of the written test:

A) Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered college or university with a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice, Forensic Science, or related field in the natural or social sciences and two (2) years’ experience in death investigations; or:

B) Graduation from a regionally accredited or New York State registered college with an Associate’s Degree in Criminal Justice, Forensic Science , or related field in the natural or social sciences; and four (4) years’ experience in death investigations; or:

C) An equivalent combination of training and experience as defined by the limits of (A), (B) and (C).

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS:

Must successfully pass exam for the A.B.M.D.I. (American Board of Medical Death Investigators) prior to completion of one year as Medical Investigator and also maintain active Diplomat Status; and

Candidates must possess a valid New York State driver's License and have automotive transportation available for use at the time of appointment.

Notes:

1.  Verifiable part-time and/or volunteer experience will be pro-rated toward meeting full time experience requirement.

2. "Natural Science" may include biology in all its branches, mineralogy, geology, chemistry, physics, geography and other sciences.

3.  “Social Science" may include psychology, anthropology, archaeology and other sciences.

4. Your degree and/or college credit must have been awarded by a regionally accredited college or university or one recognized by the New York State Education Department as following acceptable educational practices.  A grade of "D" or better is necessary for a course to be credited as successfully completed.  If your degree and/or college credit was awarded by an educational institution outside of the United States and its territories, you must provide independent verification of equivalency.  You can write to this Department for a list of acceptable companies providing this service; you must pay the required evaluation fee.

Notice to Candidates:  Transcripts will now be accepted by the Department of Personnel ONLY at time of application.  

All subsequent transcripts must be submitted at time of interview.

A Guide for the Written Test for Investigators is available at the New York State website:https://www.cs.ny.gov/testing/testguides.cfm. Candidates not having access to a computer or the internet may request copy of the test guide from the municipal civil service office conducting this examination using the contact information found elsewhere on this announcement

Subjects of Examination:

Scopes / Subjects of examination: A test designed to evaluate knowledge, skills and /or abilities in the following areas.

Preparing written material
These questions test for the ability to present information clearly and accurately, and to organize paragraphs logically and comprehensibly. For some questions, you will be given information in two or three sentences followed by four restatements of the information. You must then choose the best version. For other questions, you will be given paragraphs with their sentences out of order. You must then choose, from four suggestions, the best order for the sentences.

Understanding and interpreting written material
These questions test for the ability to understand and interpret written material. You will be presented with brief reading passages and will be asked questions about the passages. You should base your answers to the questions only on what is presented in the passages and not on what you may happen to know about the topic.

Evaluating information and evidence
These questions test the candidates' abilities to evaluate and draw conclusions from information and evidence. Each question consists of a set of facts and a conclusion based on the facts. The candidate must decide if a conclusion is warranted by the facts.

NOTICE TO CANDIDATES: Unless otherwise noted, candidates are permitted to use quiet, hand held, solar or battery powered calculators. Devices with typewriter keyboards, "Spell Checkers", “Personal Digital Assistants", "Address Books", "Language Translators", "Dictionaries", or any similar devices are prohibited. You may not bring books or other reference materials.

INFORMATION FOR PROMOTION CANDIDATES

Unless otherwise indicated, the eligible list resulting from this examination will have a duration of four years and will not supersede existing promotional lists, if any.

RATINGS REQUIRED:  Test is rated on a scale of 100 with a passing mark at 70.  Test instructions may further divide the tests into parts and set minimum standards for each part.

Points will be added to scores of candidates who achieve a passing mark as follows: Seniority:  For each year of service in the classified service:

Less than 1 year……………………..................…0 points

1 year up to 6 years…………….…........................1 point

Over 6 years up to 11 years.....………......….........2 points

Over 11 years up to 16 years….…........….........…3 points

Over 16 years up to 21 years………..................…4 points

Over 21 years………………………..................…5 points

VETERANS:  Disabled and non-disabled veterans as defined in Section 85, New York State Civil Service Law, will have 5 and 2.5 points, respectively added to their earned scores if successful in the PROMOTIONAL examination.  You must claim these credits when you file application but you have an option to waive them any time prior to appointment.  If you have already used these credits for a permanent position in NYS, you may not claim them again.

**IMPORTANT APPLICATION FEE - READ CAREFULLY**

A $20.00 filing fee is required for this exam. The required fee must accompany your application. Send or bring check or money order made payable to Erie County Personnel Department and write the examination number(s) on your check or money order. Do not send or bring cash, as the County cannot be responsible for cash payment. As no refund will be made, you are urged to compare your qualifications carefully with the requirements for admission and file only for those examinations for which you are clearly qualified.