San Diego County's 84-thousand square foot Medical Examiner and Forensic Center is now open. The new building is only a few hundred yards west of the current building in Kearny Mesa.
The project started back in May of last year and the first official day of business in the new building will be Monday. County Supervisors announced the opening Thursday afternoon and said it's been a long time coming.
"Of the thousands of county services this goverment provides, the medical examiner might be the most overlooked and underappreciated," said Supervisor Diane Jacob. " After all, day after day, hour after hour, the medical examiner and his staff are hard at work. They solve complex crimes, they console grieving families, and they track diseases and trends to keep others in our region safe."
Despite the new facility, the office will drastically cut hours for releasing bodies for burial-- from 11 hours a day, seven days a week to four hours a day, five days a week.
