Human Remains Project

Background

Global Rescue Services is a registered charity which responds to disasters throughout the world (including the UK) by providing trained specialist support services. These include search dogs and their handlers, equipment and communication technology.

The proposed Human Remains project (funded by the European Social Risk Fund) was seen to be of great importance because we would be the only specialised Team in existence in Wales able to carry out Human Remains (Cadaver) Work. At the present time a Team from the North of England is called out and due to the regrettable increase in the number of incidents they are requested to attend here in Wales resources are stretched to the limit. The aim of the project was to train a minimum of 6 personnel in this line of work, who would in turn, be able to pass on their experiences and knowledge on to fellow and future team members.

Training / Trainer

The team was trained and mentored by Mike Swindells, who had recently retired from the Lancashire Police Force and is still a leading figure in this area of work with over 30 years of experience in using dogs to search and locate human remains. Mr Swindells is also a founder member of the Forensic Search Advisory Group which represents a consortium of individuals with expertise in the location of buried or hidden remains. All members of the group have direct scene of crime experience and are committed to the use and development of technical and field skills for forensic purposes.

The training consisted of six eight hour sessions (1 session per month for six months) led by Mick Swindells with each team member then continuing their training with a further four two hour sessions per month (one day/evening per week for six months). The majority of the training took place in and around Penmaenmawr.

The first training session gave us the basics of training dogs on human remains/cadaver work which is to get the drive in dog to search for and locate pork or pieces of pig. Mr Swindells had explained that as we were unable to use the real thing (human remains) the next best thing to use was pigs. He assured us that every dog he had trained using pigs had successfully located human remains. We were given instruction on how to dig the correct training grave. This entailed making sure that the walls of the grave were straight and distinctive from the natural undisturbed ground.

Fig 1. Training grave.

Grave Location

We then went on to prepare our own training graves and to date we have over 20 training graves located in controlled areas. These graves were to be used for the rest of the training given by Mr Swindells.

Once the handlers got the drive in to the dog for the pork we moved to hiding small pieces in walls, under stones, in small holes in the ground. The dogs were encouraged to search for the pork using their fantastic sense of smell. Each time the dog found a piece it was allowed to eat it. This was a new technique for all handlers as in the past they had rewarded their dogs with toys or praise after locating what they were searching for.

As the dogs got better at finding these small pieces we moved on to being trained on the 3 main disciplines of human remains /cadaver detection work:

• Field Craft
• Probe and Line Work
• Search using Dogs

Field Craft

This is where the handler will scan and search the area to look for any signs of unnatural changes to the natural environment e.g. spoil heap, vegetation, depression in the ground. Once the handler has done a cursory search and located some possible grave site he moves on to the next discipline namely Probe & Line work.

Fig 2. Field craft in progress – note the boundary for the search area.

Probe & Line Search

Once a possible grave site has been located the handler uses a rope line marked at 50cm intervals to run over the centre of the possible grave. The handler then probes the ground at every 50cm interval. The purpose of this is to allow the gasses/smells which may be trapped to escape into the air. When the handler is probing they should notice the consistency of the ground until they hit the centre of the possible grave. If there is a grave the handler should be able to notice a vast difference in the consistency of the ground as this area has been dug up and re-filled resulting in a very different compactness to the soil from the rest of the area which could have been untouched for thousands of years. Once the holes have been probed we are ready for the final discipline to take place.

Fig 3. Handler using a probe on possible grave site

Search using Dogs

With the line probed the handler will then get the dog to work each probe hole. The dog should sniff each hole before moving on to the next. We again, used a different technique here where we work the dog with the wind behind rather than into the wind. This is to ensure that the dog picks up the smell of the cadaver at the point it is buried. If we were to work the dog into the wind (as done with all search dogs) then the dog would pick up the scent in the air and may give an indication a large distance away from the grave location. Once the dog has pinpointed the location of the body it will start to scratch and dig in turn giving the handler the indication required.

Fig 4& 5. Dogs working over the probed holes.
Note the handler using a pointer to encourage/guide the dog over each one.

Fig 6. A successful find – note the dog’s drive to get at the body.

Victim Recovery

Once we had understood the processes and disciplines regarding grave location Mr Swindells moved on to teach us another important part of human remains work namely victim recovery.

This area of work involves using the dogs to search large areas for any body parts no matter how large or small. Possible instances when we would use this discipline would be as a result of a large explosion where victims were caught up in the blast e.g. the Lockerbie disaster where body parts were strewn over hundreds of square miles of land.

Again, using pork we would put the dogs on long leads/lines to search for any body parts (pieces of pork for training purposes) and get the dog to indicate that it has locate something. The indication in this case would either be the dog sitting/lying down or barking at the object. The main aim is to recover the body part but before that it must be flagged and photographed for evidence.

Fig 7. An area containing pieces of pork strewn in a random order.
   note the flags indicating the dog has located 5 pieces.

Each handler has a set of 10 numbered flags. These are unique to the handler in order to differentiate which handler and dog have located the body part in question.

Fig 8. Close up of pork with unique referenced flag for evidence purposes

On our final training session Mr Swindells was accompanied by Professor John Hunter, a Forensic Archaeologist from the University of Birmingham. Prior to going up to our training grave area we were given a 2 hour lecture by Professor Hunter on the work he did in relation to the location and excavation of human remains following detection by the handler and their dog. This very insightful and sometimes graphic lecture gave the handlers a very clear insight into what happens once the dog and handler have done their job. It also stressed the importance of preserving the location and any related evidence.

Conclusion & The Future

With all the formal training completed the team underwent their final assessment in Penmaenmawr which was led by Brian Sanderson a retired police dog handler with Lancashire Constabulary, a Home Office Qualified Instructor and also a Cadaver Search Dog Instructor. All 4 dogs and handlers were successful in their assessment and are now waiting to demonstrate their skills and training in an operational capacity.

Fig 9. The successful team along with trainer and assessor

From Left to Right (Standing) Mike Swindells, Brian Sanderson
(Kneeling) Louise Wilson with Twister, Carl Hancock with Baxter, Gavin Roberts with Gelert and
Collin Singer with Inky.

To read our feature on the BBC Website, click here.