THOMASVILLE — Georgia coroners will meet later this month in an attempt to head off closings of Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) crime labs.

The Moultrie crime lab is among three statewide on the state government’s hit list.

“We’re going to discuss these closings and formulate a plan to try to keep them,” said Sam Brown, Thomas County coroner and at-large state director of the Georgia Coroners Association.

Colquitt County Sheriff Al Whittington recently lambasted the idea of closing the Moultrie lab, saying that public safety is at stake in the issue.

The coroners group will meet Tuesday, Aug. 26, in Macon.

Brown, a former association president, said the Moultrie lab serves 27 counties.

The Moultrie facility has not had a medical examiner in more than a year, necessitating Thomas County autopsies to be done at the main crime lab in Atlanta.

Brown, coroner since 1980, said 25 to 30 Thomas County autopsies are done at the Atlanta facility annually. Each trip costs taxpayers about $800.

The Moultrie crime lab serves all aspects of public safety, including law enforcement and courts, Brown said.

The medical examiner post at the Moultrie lab will not be filled, said John Bankhead, GBI spokesman.

Georgia is experiencing a shortfall of more than $1 billion in revenue. Gov. Sony Perdue has called for a number of money-saving measures. Closings of crimes labs at Moultrie, Columbus and Summerville are among them.

Bankhead said the current proposal is for Moultrie and Columbus labs to close next year during the state’s fiscal 2010, which begins July 1, 2009. The Summerville lab has already closed.

“That’s just a proposal,” Bankhead explained.

Georgia has seven regional crime labs, in addition to the main Atlanta lab. Whether the labs actually close depends on state revenue collections.

If the closings are part of the budget proposed by the governor to the 2009 Georgia General Assembly and legislators approve the budget, the facilities will close.