BOSTON -- A multimillion-dollar medical examiner's office on Cape Cod was completed a year and a half ago, but today it stands virtually empty. It was supposed to take the burden off Boston Headquarters, still recovering from controversial mistakes.

But it's barely staffed, and there have been no autopsies performed there.

The new medical examiner's office in Sandwich opened with much fanfare in August of '08, costing taxpayers $4.7 million. But it's not operational, and it's absolutely empty most days. There's never been the big payoff of taking the burden of over 500 autopsies from southeastern Massachusetts from the Boston Medical Examiner's office, where overcrowding was a big issue in the past.

"Having it not open is not a good thing," said John Grossman, Undersecretary for the Office of Public Safety. "We want it open, but we have to make tough decisions in these economic times."

When the state medical examiner's office lost $3 million in state funding it decided to sacrifice staffing the Cape office. Homicide investigators fear a repeat past problems like missing bodies, botched autopsies, and severe overcrowding.

Team 5 Investigates' Rhondella Richardson asked Grossman if the un-operational Cape office was putting an extra burden on a system that in the past had courted with disaster.

"We've been doing it for a number of years," said Grossman, regarding the large number of autopsies they handle. "I don't accept that characterization."

"I get the feeling oftentimes that law enforcement is an orphan child in budget considerations," said Michael O'Keefe, district attorney for the Cape and Islands.

District attorneys across Southeastern Massachusetts are more than disappointed. They're concerned for public safety.

"There is a breaking point where things fall through the cracks," said O'Keefe. "There have been some very close calls."

The only time the building is used is about once a week for meetings, leaving thousands of autopsies to be done in Boston. The time it takes to shuttle bodies off Cape alone can impede the work of law enforcement.

"Obviously, the delay of investigations is one thing of some significance," said O'Keefe. "When things are rough, it really does reveal what the priorities of government are."

The executive office of public safety told Team 5 Investigates there was no timetable to get the Cape office fully operational.