County of Riverside: separation of county offices: in-custody reports

The law separates death investigations from the sheriff’s office and expands public disclosure of deaths and medical emergencies involving people in county custody.

What the law does ​

• Requires Riverside County by July 1, 2027, to separate the sheriff and coroner offices, abolish the coroner office, and establish an appointed medical examiner office.
• Transfers coroner-office employees, duties, and medicolegal death investigations to the medical examiner office.
• Limits signing death certificates and postmortem-examination materials to the medical examiner.
• Requires online publication of initial and preliminary in-custody death reports, death data, serious-incident notices, and Department of Justice death-reporting forms.
• Requires notice to next of kin of an in-custody death’s cause within 72 hours after that cause is determined.

Who it affects ​

• People held, arrested, transported, or medically treated while in Riverside County Sheriff’s Office custody.
• Families and next of kin of people who die in Riverside County custody.
• Riverside County coroner-office employees and their recognized employee organizations.
• Riverside County’s sheriff, medical examiner, and Board of Supervisors.

Context ​

The law applies specifically to Riverside County and cites its comparatively high jail-death rates.