Biometrics is essentially the best forensic method used by the police and disaster management agencies to identify people or victims of disaster. They are uniquely based upon one or more intrinsic physical or behavioural traits. In Nigeria, disaster victim identification based on biometrics is not applied by the police detectives and failure to know the exact identity of victims has led to mass burials in so many instances.
Inspector General of Police Ogbonna Onovo said during disaster victim identification training organised for the police by Germany in Abuja, that so many victims of disasters have been given mass burials as a result of lack of a method to trace their identities. “It is expected that after the training, there will not be any excuse for mass burial,” he said.
In 2002, 56 unidentified victims of a plane crash in Kano were given a mass burial. Red Cross officials had stated that death toll had hit 148. The 56 victims, comprising about 14 men and 42 women, were interred in Kano. Also, victims of the motor accident that claimed not less than 70 lives at Uromi Junction along the Benin-Asaba Expressway, Agbor, in Ika South Local government Area of Delta State recently were given a mass burial. Nevertheless, 380 victims of the sectarian violence in three communities in Shen village of Jos South Local Government Area were given a mass burial in Dogon Na Hauwa.
The Germans trained the police based on request made by Onovo when German diplomats visited him in Abuja. The diplomats had asked the police to identify areas which they required training.
The German Police Liaison Officer for West Africa, Dominic Muller, said police must be able to identify victims of disasters no matter how bad the bodies. He said police detectives should apply biometrics in post-mortem examinations to find the exact identity of people and avoid mass burials. The physical characteristics which could be relied upon include finger print, dental records, face recognition, DNA as well as hand and palm geometry. Ante mortem records such as x-rays and photographs could be compared to post mortem records to get an exact identity. “Where the body becomes difficult to recognise such as in inferno, plane crash or has decomposed, dental records could be used to give appropriate facts,” Muller said.
But in Nigeria, very few people keep their dental records, if any, as such police will have a problem finding exact facts. Muller said in other European countries including Germany people consult dentists often due to the nature of their diets and it is easier to get their dental records. Identification rates are highest among people from nations where dental and healthcare systems are of high quality.
He said it is important to trace identity so as to allay suspicion by family members and enable relatives claim insurance benefits. It is only when the real identity of the victims of disaster such as in plane crash is established that insurance monies will be given to families.
Muller said it is sad that in Nigeria disaster victims are given mass burials because of inability or failure of police and disaster management agencies to identify victims. “Ideally, it is the police who are to coordinate other agencies in disaster management and police detectives posted to such scenes must have the knowledge of disaster victim identification,” he said.
A senior police officer in Abuja said very few policemen have requisite knowledge to identify disfigured human bodies which was the reason for mass burial of victims.
But Muller said he and his German counterparts have taught a select group of policemen some disaster victims identification strategies among which dental records are more reliable. DNA test is also reliable but it takes time before the result is known which necessitates keeping the body in a temperature-controlled morgue to slow down decomposition. It is a sensitive technique with contamination problems.
Fingerprints information is also important but will have to be sent to experts who will input the information into automated Fingerprint Identification System which is rare in Nigeria. Fingerprints are unique but less obtainable from victims due to the fast decomposition.
Muller said there is no basis to give victims of disasters or accidents mass burial when physical pictures of victims can be used in identification. Photos can be taken of the victim, focusing on items like medical operations, jewellery, tattooing, scars, piercing, or eye and hair colour.
These distinguishing characteristics are not considered universal because they may not be present in every corpse. These features may also be disfigured for various reasons but even then, they have helped detectives in identification.
Written by Misbahu Bashir Sunday, 18 July 2010 05:36
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