SUMMIT COUNTY - This week the Summit County Coroner's Office became the first coroner's office in Colorado to gain accreditation through the International Association of Coroners and Medical Examiners.

Coroner Joanne Richardson submitted her application to the association in June, six months after she began answering 11 pages of questions in order to show that her office met the association's administrative, forensic, investigative and facilities standards.

The end result was a thick binder filled with several hundred pages of policies and procedures on anything from how to fill out death certificates to the proper way to collect evidence and remove a body from a death scene.

Earlier this week, she got the news that her office had scored the obligatory 100 percent on mandatory standards and 90 percent on all applicable standards.

"When an agency elects to subject themselves to this process it clearly indicates their desire to stand to peer review and demonstrates to the public and stakeholders a strong desire to provide excellence in service provision," said Erwin Sonnenberg, the chairman of the accreditation board.

Only 10 coroner's offices in the country have received the accreditation, but the association only began offering the certification two years ago. Before that time, the only accreditation available was through the National Association of Medical Examiners, which dictates the standards many larger coroner's offices strive to achieve. That particular accreditation is difficult for a small office, such as Richardson's, to obtain because the association of medical examiners requires an on-site morgue with a forensic pathologist.

Richardson staffs two deputy coroners and is in the process of training a third. Autopsies ordered by Richardson are performed by a pathologist in Jefferson County.