Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) Lecture Notes

Introduction to Disaster Victim Identification (DVI)

  • Overview of DVI, commonly known as Disaster Victim Identification.
  • Led by a police task force with collaboration from various specialists, including forensic pathologists.
  • Lecture will cover definitions, scenarios, aims, types, sizes, background, planning, procedures, phases, hazards, difficulties, and practicalities of DVI incidents.

What is a DVI Incident?

  • Process to identify human remains in mass casualty incidents.
  • Remains can vary from intact bodies to small fragments.

Why Perform DVI?

  • Respect for the deceased is valued in civilized societies.
  • Addresses forensic, humanitarian, and legal issues.
  • Individuals have a right to identification, examination of remains, and return to relatives.
  • Coroner's remit includes identification, manner, time, cause, and place of death.
  • Death certificate production allows for wills, inheritance, and insurance finalization.

Forensic Investigation Aspects

  • Criminal investigations for homicides, potentially leading to court proceedings.
  • Inquiries into accidents to prevent future events.
  • Intelligence gathering, especially in terrorist-related events, to track cells or individuals and prevent future incidents.

Causes of Mass Casualty Incidents

  • Natural disasters: hurricanes, avalanches, extreme weather, bushfires, earthquakes, disease (pandemics).
  • Non-natural disasters: accidental or deliberate actions, terrorism, travel incidents, building/mine/dam collapses, wars, mass graves, migration events.

Types of DVI Incidents: Closed vs. Open Disasters

  • Closed Disaster: Involves a known group of people, usually with a record of attendance (e.g., flight manifest, tour group, building occupants).
  • Open Disaster: Involves an unknown number and identity of persons due to lack of records (e.g., public events, festivals, affecting whole regions or towns).
  • Mixed Disaster: Combination of both open and closed components (e.g., 9/11 attacks in New York).

Variation in DVI Incidents

  • Vast variation in size and number of deceased.
  • Locations may be confined (road traffic incidents) or spread over large areas (bushfires).
  • Separate events may occur simultaneously (Paris bombings and shootings).
  • May require local, national, or international involvement.

Hazards and Infrastructure

  • Varied hazards at the scene and for personnel.
  • Varied infrastructure requirements for DVI phases.
  • Involvement of unpredictable interested parties (media, government).

Phases of a DVI Event

  • Scene Phase
  • Mortuary Phase
  • Antemortem Phase
  • Reconciliation Phase
  • Debrief Phase (newly added)
  • Phases overlap and run consecutively/simultaneously depending on the event.

Background: Interpol's Role

  • The International Criminal Police Organization is the mainstay of DVI procedures and standards.
  • Involves multiple specialists coordinated by police.
  • Develops guidelines followed across 194 member countries.
  • Maintains standards, promotes a consistent approach, uniform response, and international cooperation.

Australian and New Zealand DVI Committee (ADVIC)

  • Develops and maintains plans and standards in Australia and New Zealand.
  • Individual states and territories have their own committees.
  • Produces standard documents, plans infrastructure, amenities, sites, and staffing.
  • Conducts training exercises (desktop and practical).

Personnel Involved

  • Multidisciplinary; primarily a police jurisdiction event.
  • Overall DVI commander and coordinators for each phase.
  • Police officers aid specialists at the scene and mortuary.
  • Other agencies: Australian Defence Force, international police and specialists.
  • Coroner and coronial staff.
  • Specialists: forensic pathologists, anthropologists, biologists, odontologists (forensic dentists), ridgeologists (fingerprints).
  • Emergency services.

Interpol Forms

  • Pink forms: Postmortem data.
  • Yellow forms: Antemortem data.
  • Used for documentation in mortuary and antemortem phases.

Phase 1: Scene Phase

  • Site of the event (variable in size, location, may involve multiple locations).
  • Initial meeting for a logical and organized approach.
  • Evaluation of scene extent, condition, potential number of bodies, property.
  • Assessment and estimation of duration and hazards.
  • Special equipment or expertise may be required.

Hazards at the Scene

  • Location and terrain.
  • Weather.
  • Risk of explosions and fire.
  • Risk of falling debris.
  • Toxic substances.
  • Potential infection risks.
  • Manual handling and sharp materials.
  • Practical issues: sustenance and shelter.

Priorities at the Scene

  • Recovery of live and injured individuals.
  • Care and management of attending personnel.
  • Security of the site.
  • Collection of forensic evidence (identification related).
  • Grid/GPS reference for each body/item.
  • Media management and security.
  • Appropriate scene documentation and photography.
  • Transport and storage of remains in a facility.

Phase 2: Mortuary Phase

  • Examination and documentation of remains and associated items.
  • Planning meeting considering coronial and family wishes.
  • Decisions regarding logistics (on-site/off-site mortuary).
  • Organization of extra staffing and equipment.
  • Management of BAU (business as usual) workload.

Mortuary Types

  • Business as usual mortuary.
  • Temporary mortuaries (pre-existing buildings or temporary structures).

Mortuary Process

  • Unique identifying number assigned at the scene and rechecked at triage.
  • CT scanning to identify injury patterns, items of interest, commingled remains, and assist dental examination.
  • Decision on full or partial autopsies and necessary samples.
  • Documentation on Interpol pink forms.
  • Recording of external and internal descriptors.
  • Sampling for identification and investigations (toxicology).
  • Personal property recorded.
  • Odontology and ridgeology specialists on successive tables.

Identifiers

  • Primary Identifiers: DNA, odontology, ridgeology (fingerprints).
  • Secondary Identifiers: Medical devices (pacemakers), tattoos, metal implants.

Difficulties in Post Mortem Examination

  • Decomposition, incineration, sheer number of remains/fragments, commingling of parts.

Hazards

  • Similar to scene phase, relating to the body and potential contaminants.

Storage of Remains

  • Prior to and after examination, awaiting ID and return to funeral directors.
  • Temporary storage: refrigerated shipping containers or body storage tents.

Aim of Mortuary Phase

  • Fill in pink form data.
  • Attain primary and secondary identifiers.
  • Aid coronial, forensic, and criminal investigations.

Phase 3: Antemortem Phase

  • Collection of data relating to missing persons on yellow forms.
  • Data collection center for friends and family.
  • Working area for data collation and entry into a database.
  • Multi-agency involvement.
  • Special police family liaison officers.
  • Social media used to convey and attain personal data.

Data Collected

  • Dental records from dentists (OPG x-rays and charts).
  • DNA samples (hair, toothbrushes).
  • Fingerprints (homes, records, passports).
  • Data compared to PM data via database.

Phase 4: Reconciliation Phase

  • Reconciliation center where teams compile reports of matching identification data.
  • Primary identifiers: DNA, odontology, ridgeology.
  • Comparison of antemortem and postmortem data.
  • Dental findings should match or be very similar; DNA should achieve a positive match.
  • Secondary identifiers support identification.
  • Visual identification should not be used alone.
  • Official comparison report sent to the reconciliation board (officials and specialists).
  • If the report is accepted, a certificate of identification is issued, and remains are released.
  • Quality control stations in all phases to audit individuals and information.

Phase 5: Debrief Phase

  • Immediate debriefing to improve ongoing processes and communication.
  • Debriefing after the event to examine the entire operation.
  • Psychological debriefing for staff.

Temporary Arrangements

  • If DVI event cannot run progressively, temporary arrangements are made for body storage.
  • Temporary controlled burial site to limit decomposition, with numbered individuals and recorded burial sites.

Examples of Mass Casualty Incidents

  • Numerous incidents exist; consider difficulties, hazards, organizational issues, and logistics for recovery, examination, and identification of remains.