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Forensic Overview
Identifying an individual’s role in a crime and whether they are linked to previous offences
can sometimes prove testing. Furthermore, if an individual commits a crime in one country
and is convicted for this, serves their punishment and then goes to another country and
commits another crime then it is important for networks of communication and an exchange of
information to be in place between countries. This is a main function of INTERPOL who serve to
facilitate such cross border police communication.
Just as fingerprints and DNA are important for establishing a suspect identity in the first place
it is also paramount that such biometric information is available to other countries in order to
ascertain matches if an individual commits a crime in a different place to the initial crime for
which the fingerprints and record was set up for. Therefore it needs to be available on a global
level (to authorized individuals) as crime today is increasingly transnational.
Certain crimes tend to occur across a series of different countries due to their nature, these
include phenomena as diverse as international terrorism, drug trafficking, illegal arms deals, the
smuggling of radioactive material, human trafficking, the global sex trade, racketeering, trading
in human organs, counterfeiting of documents and identities, extortion and many different
forms of state and corporate crime.
The importance of sharing biometric information was highlighted back in April of 2011 when it
was reported that hundreds of prisoners (approximately 480), including members of the Taliban,
escaped an Afghan prison. Unfortunately it emerged that the Afghan authorities have not been
trained or equipped to take, store and access photographs and most importantly, fingerprints
and DNA of possible dangerous terrorists for international sharing. This presented a huge global
security risk and further highlights the need for such information sharing and co-operation in
identifying individuals who are a possible threat to public safety.
Furthermore, it comes three years after a mass break out of almost double the amount
of inmates from the same prison and for whom INTERPOL has still not received identifying
information for circulation to the global law enforcement community. Following the recent
breakout INTERPOL General Secretariat notified the neighboring countries of Afghanistan but
with little strong identifying information it would prove extremely difficult for them to do
anything with potential suspects.
Fingerprints and DNA are also of extreme importance in the aftermath of a disaster.
Following the Tsunami in Phuket in 2004 INTERPOL provided much support in coordinating
the international victim identification effort. INTERPOL’s response to the disaster was set in
motion on the morning of the tsunami, 26 December 2004, when its 24-hour-a-day command
and control centre immediately contacted the affected countries to offer assistance. INTERPOL
also informed its network of international DVI teams and deployed an incident response team
(IRT) to Thailand to begin co-ordination and data management efforts on the ground.
Nearly 3,000 victims of the 3,750 recorded were identified in the year that followed the
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