Priority Action Report

Disaster Victim Identification

Crime Scene/Death Investigation SAC

Jason Wiersema, PhD, D-ABFA, D-ABMDI

January 23, 2017
Subcommittee Leadership

Position Name Organization Term Email

Chair Jason Wiersema

Harris County 

Institute of 

Forensic 

Sciences

3(*1) Jason.Wiersema@ifs.hctx.net

Vice Chair Vacant

Executive 

Secretary Allison Woody 

Harris County 

Institute of 

Forensic 

Sciences

4(*2) Allison.Woody@ifs.hctx.net

2

*years remaining on original term
Subcommittee Members

# Name Organization Term Email

1 Don Bloom U.S. National Disaster Medical System 4(3) don.bloom@hhs.gov

2 Elissia Conlon Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, New York 3(2) Econlon@ocme.nyc.gov

3 Joyce deJong, D.O. Western Michigan University School of Medicine 3(2) joyce.dejong@med.wmich.edu

4 Dennis Dirkmaat, Ph.D. Mercyhurst University 4(3) ddirkmaat@mercyhurst.edu

5 Benjamin Figura, Ph.D. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, New York 2(1) bfigura@ocme.nyc.gov

6 Elias Kontanis, Ph.D. U.S. National Transportation Safety Board 3(2) elias.kontanis@ntsb.gov

7 Raymond Miller, D.D.S. State University of New York, Buffalo 4(3) ray2thdoc@aol.com

9 Thomas Parsons, Ph.D. International Commission on Missing Persons 4(3) thomas.parsons@ic-mp.org

10 Aaron Uhle U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation 4(3) aaron.uhle@ic.fbi.gov

11 Suzanne Utley-Bobak, M.D. District 12 Medical Examiners Office, Florida 2(1) utleysuzanne@hotmail.com

12 Mark Wadhams U.S. Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory 2(1) mark.j.wadhams.ctr@mail.mil

13 Allan Warnick, D.D.S. Wayne County (Ohio) Medical Examiner 3(2) wtoothdoc@aol.com

14 Victor Weedn, M.D., J.D. George Washington University 3(2) vweedn@gwu.edu

15 Jason Wiersema, Ph.D. Harris County (TX) Institute of Forensic Sciences 3 (2) jason.wiersema@ifs.hctx.net

16 Allison Woody Harris County (TX) Institute of Forensic Sciences 4 (3) allison.woody@ifs.htx.net

17 Timothy Zolandz U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation 3 2(1) timothy.zolandz@ic.fbi.gov
Discipline Description

The Subcommittee on Disaster Victim 

Identification will advance the scientific 

basis for disaster victim identification by 

assembling multi-disciplinary 

professionals from the DVI community in 

a collaborative effort to develop 

consensus standards, guidelines and best 

practices supporting mass fatality/ 

casualty management for use by 

domestic and international medicolegal

and emergency management 

practitioners. 

4
Summary of Standards/Guidelines 

Priority Actions

Priority Working Title of Document

Priority 1 (1 of 6)

Continued from 2016

Standard Practices for DNA Analysis for Human Identification in Mass Fatality Incidents 

(DVI DNA)

Priority 1 (2 of 6)

Continued from 2016

Standard Practices for the Forensic Pathologist in the Disaster Victim Identification Context 

(DVI Pathology)

Priority 1 (3 of 6)

Continued from 2016

Mass Fatality Incident Data Management: Standard Practices for the Medicolegal 

Authority (DVI Data)

Priority 1 (4 of 6)

Continued from 2016

Postmortem Impression Submission Strategy for Comprehensive Searches of Essential 

Automated Fingerprint Identification System Databases (DVI Print)

Priority 1 (5 of 6)

Continued from 2016

Forensic Anthropology in Disaster Victim Identification: Standard Practices for the 

Medicolegal Authority (DVI Anthropology)

Priority 1 (6 of 6)

Continued from 2016

Mass Fatality Incident Scene Processing: Standard Practices for the Medicolegal Authority 

(DVI Scene)

Priority 2

New

Human Identification by Comparative Dental Analysis in Disaster Victim Identification

Priority 3

New

Standard Practices for Mass Fatality Incident Management

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Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 1 Document (1 of 6)

Document Title: Standard Practices for DNA Analysis for Human 

Identification in Mass Fatality Incidents (DVI DNA) 

Scope: This document addresses the application of DNA testing to 

a DVI incident response. It provides guidance to medicolegal 

authorities for the appropriate establishment and management of 

DNA operations 

Objective/rationale: There is no existing standard pertaining to 

DNA collection and management in the DVI setting

Next Steps: Document complete, submitted to SDO 

Task Group Name: DVI DNA 

Task Group Chair Name: Timothy Zolandz

Task Group Chair Contact Information: 703-632-8473

6
Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 1 Document (2 of 6)

Document Title: Standard Practices for the Forensic Pathologist 

in the Disaster Victim Identification Context (DVI Pathology)

Scope: The intended scope of this document is to provide 

standard practice guidelines regarding postmortem data collection 

by forensic pathologists during a mass fatality incident response 

Objective/rationale: There is no existing standard pertaining to 

postmortem data collection by forensic pathologists in the DVI 

setting

Next Steps: Document complete, submitted to SDO

Task Group Name: DVI Forensic Pathology

Task Group Chair Name: Joyce deJong

Task Group Chair Contact Information: 269-337-6173

7
Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 1 Document (3 of 6)

Document Title: Mass Fatality Incident Data Management: 

Standard Practices for the Medicolegal Authority (DVI Data)

Scope: The intended scope of this document is to provide 

standard practice guidelines for the management of DVI data 

(antemortem and postmortem) 

Objective/rationale: There is no existing standard pertaining to 

the management of DVI data 

Next Steps: Document complete, submitted to SDO

Task Group Name: DVI Data Management

Task Group Chair Name: Jason Wiersema

Task Group Chair Contact Information: 713-796-6747

8
Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 1 Document (4 of 6)

Document Title: Postmortem Impression Submission Strategy for 

Comprehensive Searches of Essential Automated Fingerprint 

Identification System Databases (DVI Print)

Scope: The intended scope of this document is to provide 

standard practice guidelines regarding postmortem fingerprint 

impression evidence during a mass fatality incident response 

Objective/rationale: There is no existing standard pertaining to 

postmortem fingerprint collection that adequately addresses the 

mass fatality context

Next Steps: Document complete, submitted to SDO

Task Group Name: DVI Fingerprint

Task Group Chair Name: Aaron Uhle

Task Group Chair Contact Information: 703-632-7137

9
Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 1 Document (5 of 6)

Document Title: Forensic Anthropology in Disaster Victim 

Identification: Standard Practices for the Medicolegal Authority (DVI 

Anthropology)

Scope: The intended scope of this document is to provide 

standards regarding the application of forensic anthropological 

methods in the mass fatality context

Objective/rationale: There is no existing DVI specific standard 

pertaining to the application of forensic anthropological methods in 

the mass fatality context

Next Steps: Document complete, submitted to SDO

Task Group Name: DVI Anthropology

Task Group Chair Name: Dennis Dirkmaat

Task Group Chair Contact Information: 814-397-3771

10
Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 1 Document (6 of 6)

Document Title: Mass Fatality Incident Scene Processing: 

Standard Practices for the Medicolegal Authority (DVI Scene)

Scope: The intended scope of this document is to provide 

standards for the management of human remains recovery from a 

mass fatality incident scene

Objective/rationale: There is no existing standard pertaining to 

management human remains recovery following a mass fatality 

incident

Next Steps: Document complete, submitted to SDO

Task Group Name: DVI Scene Processing

Task Group Chair Name: Dennis Dirkmaat

Task Group Chair Contact Information: 814-397-3771

11
Task Group/Subcommittee Actions 

(documents 1-6)

Actions OSAC Process Stage Assignee Date

Document packets submitted to SAC for approval SDO-400 OSAC DVI 1/29/2016

OSAC DVI Subcommittee approves submitting documents to ASB SDO-600 OSAC DVI 1/29/2016

Wiersema assigned liaison to ASB SDO-500 OSAC DVI 6/8/2016

ASB DVI Consensus Body populated SDO-625 ASB DVI CB 6/8/2016

First meeting of the ASB DVI Consensus Body SDO-625 ASB DVI CB 6/21/2016

Document packets approved by SAC for submission to ASB DVI CB SDO-450 OSAC DVI 7/29/16

New Work Proposals submitted to ASB DVI CB SDO-700 OSAC DVI 7/22/16

New Work Proposals approved (in SDO process stage) ASB DVI CB 8/18/16

Submitted documents to ASB DVI CB for review and approval (in SDO process stage) OSAC DVI 8/22/16

Submitted project scopes to ANSI for 30 day review and approval (in SDO process stage) ASB DVI CB 10/4/16

ASB DVI CB populated Working Groups for review of OSAC DVI 

documents (in SDO process stage) ASB DVI CB 10/16-12/16

ASB DVI CB Working Groups reviewing documents (in SDO process stage) ASB DVI CB 1/2017

Priority 1: 6 documents identified as Priority 1 (DVI DNA, DVI Path, DVI Data, 

DVI Print, DVI Anthropology, DVI Scene)
Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 2 Document 

Document Title: Human Identification by Comparative Dental 

Analysis in Disaster Victim Identification

Scope: The intended scope of this document is to define the 

forensic odontological aspect of identification to be integrated into 

the overall disaster victim identification process.

Objective/rationale: There is no existing standard pertaining to 

the application of forensic odontology in the DVI context

Next steps: Draft completed, requires SAC approval for 

submission to SDO (ASB)

Task Group Name: DVI Odontology

Task Group Chair Name: Raymond Miller

Task Group Chair Contact Information: ray2thdoc@aol.com

13
Standards/Guidelines Development

Priority 3 Document 

Document Title: Standard Practices for Mass Fatality Incident 

Management

Scope: The intended scope of this document is to provide best 

practices for the management of a large scale forensic DVI 

response 

Objective/rationale: There is no existing standard pertaining to 

the appropriate management of DVI incidents

Next Steps: Draft completed

Task Group Name: DVI Management

Task Group Chair Name: Elias Kontanis

Task Group Chair Contact Information: elias.kontanis@ntsb.gov

14
Research Gaps Identified (3)

1. There is a lack of understanding of the degree of cognitive bias that may be 

associated with high throughput disaster victim identification operations. There are 

two closely associated research needs:

• Determine if cognitive bias exists in current DVI operations 

• Develop effective mitigation strategies 

2. There is currently no means to anticipate the volume and variety of data that result 

from, and must be managed following a mass fatality incident. The existing 

assumptions are anecdotal and based on a small number of incidents. The volume 

of data (missing persons call centers, victim information centers, hospitals, law 

enforcement etc.) available from previous incident after action reports should be 

used to systematically develop reliable expectations for medicolegal operations

3. There is currently no means to quantify the individualistic value of contextual 

identifiers, and thus no measure of confidence associated with contextual decedent 

identifications. There is a need for development of population-level likelihood values 

for human characteristics/circumstances that are regularly used in support of 

scientific identification methods (including scars/marks/tattoos, body location, etc)

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