Forensic Identification Experts Meet In Wellington

New Zealand Society of Forensic Dentistry
MEDIA STATEMENT

Forensic Identification Experts Meet In Wellington

8 September 2009

Forensic identification experts from around the world will meet in Wellington on 11/12/13 September. The meeting will mark the 25th Anniversary of the formation of the New Zealand Society of Forensic Dentistry (NZSFD).

The NZSFD was established in 1984, in the aftermath of the 1979 Erebus Disaster. Members are regularly involved in all manner of human identification work, most recently in Phuket, Thailand after the Boxing Day 2004 Tsunami and in Melbourne after the Victorian Bushfires in February of this year.

The meeting will be addressed by Keynote Speaker Dr David Sweet OC from Canada, the Deputy Chair (Science) of the Interpol Standing Committee on Disaster Victim Identification. Dr Sweet is an internationally recognized evidence expert, investigator, professor and researcher at The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. Other speakers will include Dr Tony Hill and Dr Richard Bassed from the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, Dr Maurice Churton from Auckland, Inspector Stuart Leighton of the New Zealand Police (now based in Christchurch) and Dr David Antunovic from New Plymouth.

Representatives of the NZSFD, the Australian Society of Forensic Odontology, New Zealand Police, New Zealand Coroners, forensic pathologists and members of the Indonesian Disaster Victim Identification Team have all been invited to register for the meeting.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for forensic experts, coroners and police to learn from each other so that they might better understand each others’ requirements when issues around reliable human identification present themselves in a criminal or civil legal setting,” NZSFD President, Dr Zaf Khouri, says. “We have some world-class experts speaking at this meeting. It will be a memorable event”.

About the New Zealand Society of Forensic Dentistry.

The NZSFD membership is comprised of dentists and dental specialists, complemented by a number of associate members including pathologists, dental assistants, hygienists, therapists & technicians. An elected Executive that is headed by the President oversees the Society’s activities.

Members undertake the full range of forensic dental services, including:
•Individual identification;
•Mass disaster identifications;
•Biological age estimation;
•Oro-facial injury assessment;
•Bitemark analysis;
•Assisting with crime and crime scene interpretation;
•Expert witness testimony in criminal and civil cases;
•Facial reconstruction (now called facial approximation) from skeletal remains;
•Assessment of ethnicity, sex and age from skeletal remains.

Around the country, Regional Coordinators provide Police & Coroners with local points of contact, thereby facilitating timely access to appropriately qualified and experienced practitioners - often on the same day that a need is identified.

The Executive includes a member who is part of the NZ Police National Disaster Victim Identification Team. That individual is available for immediate deployment nationally or internationally as part of the NZ government's first response team.

ENDS

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