The Morgue Bureau

The Morgue Bureau is located on the ground floor of the laboratory building. The 23,000-square-foot facility has a total of 15 separate autopsy stations.  Two of the autopsy stations are in the “decomp” morgue, a separate building directly behind the main morgue. The "decomp" morgue handles cases where bodies have undergone decomposition or where bodies are known to have infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV or hepatitis.

Bodies are stored in refrigerated rooms, called "coolers," both before and after autopsies. The main morgue has four coolers and the decomp morgue has its own cooler, giving a total capacity of 450 bodies.

The Morgue has a number of other rooms, including an anthropology lab, evidence room, gross specimen storage room, two X-ray rooms, supply area, employee lounge, security station, and doctor dictation suites.

The Morgue staff includes one supervisor and nine forensic technicians, as well as an evidence recovery team consisting of one supervisor and 16 technicians who respond to police calls around the clock.

Forensic technicians work closely with the medical examiners to fulfill their primary role: conducting forensic autopsies every day of the year.

They also are responsible for processing X-rays, finger-printing and evidence, and assisting funeral homes. Throughout its history, the Morgue Bureau has served law enforcement, funeral homes and schools, becoming a training center for forensic scientists from all over the world.

The Morgue Bureau was established in 1955 when the Medical Examiner Department began operation. It started as a very limited facility with space to handle only a few cases. Since then, the Morgue Bureau has evolved to become a world-renowned, state-of-the-art forensic morgue bureau, serving the Miami-Dade Community.