Authors: Lorna Irish1 and Natasha Dilkie2

1Working Animals and Biosystems team, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, UK; 2Forensic Science Consultant, Canada

Charles Haddon-Cave QC represented the families of victims of the UK Marchioness disaster where 51 people lost their lives in 1989. He is often quoted within the search and recovery community to demonstrate the importance of ensuring dignity after death. “The care with which our dead are treated is a mark of how civilised a society we are. Much goes on for understandable reasons behind closed doors. For this reason, there is a special responsibility placed on those entrusted with this work and the authorities who supervise it to ensure that the bodies of the dead are treated with the utmost care and respect. This is what bereaved and loved ones are entitled to expect and what society at large demands.”
Furthermore, the Interpol Resolution AGN/65/Res/13 (1996) recognises that “for legal, religious, cultural and other reasons, human beings have the right not to lose their identity after death and that the identification of victims is often of importance for police investigations.”.
Human remains detection (HRD) dogs remain one of the key methods for locating human remains to enable recovery, identification and repatriation of victims back to their families. This presentation will discuss the current research being conducted worldwide to support the HRD dog capability. It will utilise case studies to demonstrate the different training materials and methods being utilised internationally to achieve detection of human remains in a variety of decomposition states and environments. The future of HRD dog research will be discussed with a focus on how it will help to ensure optimal performance of HRD dogs in the field. Ultimately this research will ensure that victims are located and provide closure for their families.