PRESQUE ISLE – Local police officers and criminal justice students will get a rare opportunity to meet with Maine’s chief medical examiner when Dr. Margaret Greenwald makes a presentation at the University of Maine at Presque Isle next week.

Greenwald, who has been the state’s chief medical examiner for seven years, will conduct a training session for students at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 13, in UMPI’s campus center. Her presentation will cover injury and death cases.

The pathologist’s two-hour session is expected to provide a basic understanding of the history and operation of the Maine Office of Chief Medical Examiner, and to cover the types of deaths that constitute a medical examiner case under Maine law and the types of injuries normally associated with violent death, according to university officials.

The presentation is not for the general public, Jim Ferland, the office administrator for OCME and former police chief of Presque Isle, said Friday.

The presentation will be a basic introduction to death investigation for the university students and an opportunity for in-service training credit for local police, Ferland said.

“This is not a lecture for people slightly interested or morbidly curious,” he said. “This is strictly for educational purposes.”

Law enforcement officers will receive credit from the Maine Criminal Justice Academy for attending this training.

Criminal justice professor Dick Ayre said the presentation will be an honest look into the careers students are considering.

“It’s unlikely for a police officer in Maine to go through his or her career without confronting violent death in some way,” Ayre said Friday. “Because of that, we wanted students not only to understand something about the medical examiner’s office, but also – given the fact that they are planning to go into law enforcement – that they get a graphic understanding about what this part of the job entails.”