The second course on Disaster Victim Identification, held at the Eastern Mangroves Hotel, concluded its deliberation with the participation of a number of experts from the International Criminal Police Organization “INTERPOL”. The course, which was attended by a significant number of officers from different departments of the Ministry of Interior, reviewed a number of worksheets on Victims Identification.
While distributing certificates and shields to the course participants, Colonel Mohammed Al Dalal, Deputy Chairman of the Victim Affairs Office Committee at the Abu Dhabi Police General Headquarters, stated: “this course is one of the most successful courses, thanks to the efforts made by the experts who shared their experiences and expertise in this regard, and thanks to the commitment of the participating officers who proved their merits in this vital field.”
During the last day’s session, participants reviewed some experiences and discussed worksheets on the latest international developments in the Disaster Victim Identification field. Captain Dr. Armanosa Fadel, Head of the Teeth Print Team, reviewed the importance of teeth print and the role of Forensic Odontology in identifying disaster and severe accident victims. “The Teeth Print Team, constitutes an integrated system with the other teams, including the Forensic Medicine, the Fingerprint and the Biological Tests,” she said.
Simon Dzedrofski, INTERPOL’s expert, delivered a detailed presentation on the DNA Unit and its role in the precise identification of disaster victims.
International Expert, Steve Sergeant, from INTERPOL, delivered a presentation on fingerprints and their importance in identifying disaster victims. The presentation also shed light on how different cultures and religions deal with the deceased. International expert, Jaun Kotze, delivered a comprehensive presentation on the role and responsibilities of the Police Family Liaison Officer (FLO), the family reception center and the role of the family in identifying victims.
For his part, Colonel Ahmed Haji Al Serkal, Director of Biological Analysis Branch at the Sharjah police, participated with a worksheet that focused on the role of the new branch in identifying the victims of the Sudanese cargo plane that crashed in Sharjah in 2009. The worksheet detailed how experts at the Branch took samples from the bodies; performed DNA profiling, then carried out DNA sampling from the victims’ relatives, clothes and belongings, in order to identify all of the six bodies after comparing the different samples.
On the other hand, Major Zena Nasser Al Hatali, Biology Expert at the Forensic Identification Department in Abu Dhabi Police, pointed out the role of the DNA profiling in identifying disaster victims pointing out that the DNA fingerprint contains all genetic features that transfer from one generation to the other.
“DNA fingerprint can come from different sources and resists the different decomposition factors for long periods of time that can go up to several months. The DNA fingerprint can remain for hundreds of years after death,” she said.
Lieutenant Abdullah Mahmoud Al Braiki, from the Forensic Identification Department in Abu Dhabi Police, shed light on the role and tasks of the forensic labs across the UAE and how they cooperate with forensic medicine and crime scene teams, in taking different bio-samples from dead bodies. He also highlighted the collaboration between the labs and the Forensic Identification Department’s clients on samples taken from crime scenes.
“Forensic labs run the initial and confirmatory tests on samples such as blood, semen, saliva and hair, in addition to DN