Lehigh County Coroner Daniel A. Buglio announced his candidacy for election for coroner of Lehigh County. Buglio’s current term ends in January 2024.

Buglio, who has served in the coroner’s office for almost 24 years, worked as a police officer, part-time with the Slatington and Coplay police departments.

He began in the coroner’s office as a deputy coroner, was promoted to First Deputy/Operations Manager in April 2019 and appointed Lehigh County Coroner in April 2022.

The Lehigh County Coroner’s Office & Forensic Center was the first office in the Commonwealth to be nationally accredited by the International Association of Coroner’s and Medical Examiners, noting only five other agencies out of 67 coroner/medical examiner in the Commonwealth are accredited.

The office investigates approximately 9,000 deaths annually, a number that continues to increase. The office has a staff of 14 full-time employees and 8 part-time employees, including chief deputy coroner, first deputy coroner, field supervisor, deputy/investigators, morgue technicians, radiology technicians and secretarial staff.

In September 2005, Buglio became a certified Diplomate with the American Board of Medicolegal Death Investigators and has obtained numerous certifications training. In his 7-month tenure as Lehigh County Coroner, Buglio reorganized his management staff, with promotions from within, including the chief deputy coroner, first deputy/operations manager and reclassified a deputy position into a field supervisor/community liaison deputy.

Buglio also restructured the office schedule, with the addition of supervisors working a day/middle rotation, thus allowing supervisors to be in office from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Buglio and his staff recently obtained a $100,000 grant for communication upgrades and continues to research and apply for grants for state-of the-art equipment.

Vehicle dashcams were installed in fleet vehicles, iPads were obtained for on-scene case entry and an online credit card system was installed to assist funeral directors with cremation billing.

Buglio is a member of the Lehigh County Suicide Prevention Coalition Task Force, Substance Use Task Force and co-chairs the Lehigh County Child Death Review Team.

Buglio lives in South Whitehall Township, with his husband Eric, who is a registered nurse.