Power and authority of coroners and deputy coroners-- Training course for deputy coroners -- Effects of failure to complete required training

deputy coroners -- Effects of failure to complete required training. (1) For the purpose of enforcing KRS 72.410 to 72.470, coroners and deputy coroners have the full power and authority of peace officers in this state, including the power of arrest and the authority to bear arms and to: (a) Administer oaths; (b) Enter upon public or private premises for the purpose of making investigations; (c) Seize evidence; (d) Interrogate persons; (e) Require the production of medical records, books, papers, documents, or other evidence; (f) Impound vehicles involved in vehicular deaths; (g) Employ special investigators and photographers; and (h) Expend funds for the purpose of carrying out KRS 72.410 to 72.470. The fiscal court or urban-county government shall pay all reasonable expenses incurred by the coroner and his or her deputy in carrying out his or her responsibilities under KRS 72.410 to 72.470. (2) (a) 1. A person shall not be eligible to hold the office of deputy coroner unless he or she holds a high school diploma or its recognized equivalent. Every deputy coroner, other than a licensed physician, shall be required as a condition of office to take during every calendar year he or she is in office the training course of at least eighteen (18) hours provided by the Department of Criminal Justice Training or other courses approved by the Justice and Public Safety Cabinet after having completed the basic training course the first year of employment. The training course shall include material developed by the cabinet and approved by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services on the human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. The material shall include information on known modes of transmission and methods of controlling and preventing these diseases with an emphasis on appropriate behavior and attitude change. 2. Within three (3) years of initially assuming office, every deputy coroner shall be required as a condition of office to take a course of at least four (4) hours provided by the Department of Criminal Justice Training that shall include instruction on the grieving process and best practices for providing a notice of death to a spouse or next of kin and may include instruction on other similar topics, as set out in KRS 64.185(4)(b). A deputy coroner that has completed the course shall not be required to retake the course. (b) 1. Any deputy coroner subject to the training requirements of paragraph (a) of this subsection who fails to complete the mandated training shall be ineligible to perform the duties of deputy coroner, and may be  terminated by the coroner. The coroner shall make written notification of the deputy coroner's ineligibility to perform his or her duties to the deputy coroner and to the fiscal court or the legislative body of the consolidated local government, charter county government, urban- county government, or unified local government. 2. The commissioner of the Department of Criminal Justice Training, or the commissioner's designee, may grant the deputy coroner an extension of no more than one hundred eighty (180) days in which to complete the training requirements of this subsection if there are extenuating circumstances beyond the control of the deputy coroner that prevent that individual from completing the training during the required time period. If the deputy coroner is unable to complete the training due to an injury or illness that prevents that individual from performing the duties of the deputy coroner, the one hundred eighty (180) day extension shall begin on the date that the deputy coroner resumes performing the duties of the deputy coroner. Any deputy coroner who fails to successfully complete the training within the time period granted by the extension shall be subject to the consequences set out in subparagraph 1. of this paragraph.