AUSTRALIA–INDONESIA JOINT SYMPOSIUM IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Jakarta, 13-17 September 2006
DVI (Disaster Victim Identification) and forensic science
Professor David Gidley, Managing Director Forensics WorldWide P/L, Indonesia
Almost daily somewhere in the world we hear about disasters occurring with multiple lives lost, hazardous rescue efforts, the occasional miracle survival, but more normally the recovery and identification of victim's remains, all of which tends to fade quite quickly after the initial burst of 3–5 days news coverage.
Even today many people fail to recognise the critical role that forensics plays in these events, especially in the parallel roles of Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) and the important crime scene investigation that is essential to identifying the perpetrator(s).
While we all know that deceased and missing persons are identified from various techniques including; physical features, personal belongings, fingerprints, dental records, and DNA, what is frequently overlooked is the skills, the resources, and the practice that is necessary to have these activities readily plugged into the incident as soon as possible after the event.
Just as forensic science today can provide pro-active support (intelligence) to crime investigation, so too it can provide important support before the occurrence of terrorist incidents as an adjunct to investigative intelligence. Increasingly this aspect of forensic work is growing in importance and applies not just in the more traditional areas of forensic testing and analysis, but now across a much broader range of fields described as nuclear, biological and chemical (NCB). As an example, bio-crime or bio-terrorism, can deliver outcomes where the economic impact can be as devastating as the loss of life we see in more traditional terror attacks.
The importance of forming alliances, partnerships and MOU's is critical to dealing with these threats and incidents and forensics is no exception. No one forensic agency can cope with all possible scenarios, and efforts to establish such cooperative arrangements are essential now and for the future.
David Gidley holds a BSc from Monash University, and an MBA from the University of Melbourne, Australia. He has worked in the forensic science industry for 35 years, in the Victoria Police (31.5 years), as a consultant trading as Forensics WorldWide P/L (3.5 years), and more recently as the Senior Forensic Advisor for a US Government law enforcement aid program (ICITAP) in Indonesia (1.75 years). He currently resides in Indonesia, working both in Jakarta and Surabaya.
Over his career David represented his Victorian Police agency, locally, nationally and internationally in various forensic forums and has been a member of several national bodies including NIFS, SMANZFL, NATA-FSAAC, and ANZFSS, and was the Australasian member of the Interpol DNA Expert Monitoring Group. He has also been an Adjunct Professor at Latrobe and Deakin Universities related to forensic education programs.
