Legislators have authorized the state Personnel Board to realign two positions at the Department of Public Safety to increase staff at the medical examiner’s office.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Johnny Stringer of Montrose says legislative approval was needed to upgrade two clerical positions so DPS Commissioner Steve Simpson could move forward with hiring pathologists for the office.

Simpson says Dr. Adel Shaker, formerly of the Alabama Medical Examiner’s Office, started work Nov. 1. Simpson says Dr. Douglas Posey of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation begins work Dec. 1 in Mississippi.

Simpson says he would like to hire three more associate pathologists for the office. The state has been without a medical examiner since 1995.