Letters to the editor

‘Word of mouth victim ID’ is certainly not the case today

Dear editor,

I write to you as the ACPO lead for Disaster Victim Identification and to address some of the issues raised in the article featuring Detective Superintendent Kathy Morris from the Metropolitan Police Crime Academy (When disaster strikes, issue 98).

Detective Superintendent Morris is fully aware of what we are doing nationally on behalf of the Home Office and Foreign and Commonwealth Office and I, therefore, question how she recognised that “procedures for victim identification were being handed down by word of mouth within the service”. That is, unless she is referring to procedures from yester year because that certainly is not the case today. Detective Superintendent Morris had no reason to “scavenge for information” as you, along with a number of other police publications have published what we are doing in accordance with the UK DVI Strategy ratified by Chief Constables Council in October 2006.

All forces throughout the UK have responsibility on behalf of HM Coroner to identify deceased where death is unexpected or unexplained and occurs within their jurisdiction. In the majority of cases, forces have sufficient staff trained to foundation level in DVI. In incidents where there is a potential for a large number of fatalities, it may be necessary for forces to enlist the assistance of trained staff from others in their region to assist in the main elements of DVI which are:

• Casualty bureau
• Family liaison
• Body recovery
• Ante-mortem to post mortem matching
• Repatriation

In present times it is not difficult to foresee incidents could involve fatalities at the revised national capability programmes amended assumed level of 2,400 dead people. This figure clearly would be beyond any forces or regional capabilities. Few people could have envisaged the scale of the “tsunami” and it became clear then that the UK were under prepared in certain aspects of the DVI process. This in no way is meant as criticism of the hundreds of officers involved in what became Operation Bracknell. On the contrary, senior identification managers (SIMs) and their teams rightly gained the respect of many on the world DVI stage. This respect was earned, in large part, thanks to the previous experience of SIMs including Derek Forest (West Midlands Police) and Nick Bracken (MPS) who took the role of DVI Commander. It was recognised that there was a need for consistency between UK forces and I was appointed in June 2005 to lead on behalf of ACPO working directly to DCC Alan Goodwin, the chair of ACPO Emergency Procedures Committee. Mick Free is the UK DVI development officer and Ian Cartmell the national coordinator, both of who have immense experience and work with PNICC at Victoria Street London.

The development is continuing on many fronts and perhaps the largest single change, but by no means the only one, is the fact that all members of the UK DVI team will have a qualification gained through a rigorous theoretical and practical course devised and facilitated by Prof Sue Black and her team at the University of Dundee. Prof Black is the head of Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology at Dundee and is a founding director of the Centre for International Forensic Assistance (CIFA), founding member of the British Association for Human Identification (BAHID) and an assessor for the Council for Registration of Forensic Practitioners (CRFP). She has more than 20 years experience in the national and international field of forensic anthropology and human identification and has provided assistance and advice to many governments, military organisations and investigative authorities. The university has developed the National DVI Advanced Training Course in association with ACPO, NPIA and CIFA. By the end of Summer 2008 we will have trained the 500 members of the UK DVI Team. Forces across the country have selected officers and staff to participate. Students will have already