Lyon, France: INTERPOL and a consortium of five European partners have
created a prototype system to assist with the quick identification of victims
or missing persons following a natural or man-made disaster or in daily
policing.
The FAST and efficient international disaster victim
IDentification (FASTID) project was developed with experts from the German
Federal Criminal Police Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), the IOSB and IGD Institutes of
the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Germany, Danish company PlassData, the
University of Dundee and Crabbe Consulting Ltd, with co-funding from the
European Union’s Seventh framework programme (FP7).
When fully implemented, the results of the FASTID project
will serve as the first centralized, global. database of information that can
be used to quickly identify and link missing persons and unidentified bodies
(MPUB). This future database is designed to be used by teams in the field
responding to a disaster, or by national police trying to identify missing
persons, persons unable to identify themselves, or unidentified bodies.
Based on INTERPOL’s tools – in particular its globally
recognized disaster victim identification (DVI) protocols, combined with its
Yellow Notices for missing persons – the MPUB system includes search
capabilities for DNA and dental records and interfaces with other databases,
such as fingerprints.
The FASTID partners, as well as 21 volunteer INTERPOL member
countries, recently completed a testing phase to assess the ease of submitting
data, querying the system and the accuracy of the results. An online DVI manual
has also been developed to ensure a uniform approach to recording victims’
physical characteristics by international DVI teams. The research also led to
the creation of image catalogues integrated in the system to assist in
describing personal effects and physical characteristics.
As part of the FASTID project, research was also conducted
into image retrieval methods, including a matching system for tattoos and other
body modifications, as well as facial recognition techniques such as
craniofacial reconstruction and superimposition. These could be integrated into
the system in the future.
“It is vital that law enforcement and first responders to
major disasters have access to a global repository of data that will ensure the
fast and efficient identification of victims or missing persons,” said Peter
Ambs, INTERPOL’s FASTID project leader. “By making this system available via
INTERPOL’s global network, police and those responding to disasters worldwide
will be able to access the system whenever and wherever it is needed.”
Following the Asian tsunami in 2004, the INTERPOL General
Assembly passed a resolution recognizing the need to establish a global
database of information to improve victim identification efforts.