"An Insight into the Awareness and Utilization of “Dental Evidence” Among the Police Force in Greater Noida"
Dr. Ekta choudhary1,Dr.Anu Vashisht2, Dr. Aashima kulshreshta3, Dr. Priya Jain4,
Dr Sachin Chand5,&Dr Kuldeep Dhanker6
1Professor and Head of department, Department of conservative Dentistry and EndodonticsSchool of Dental sciencesSharda university
2Assistant Professor, Department of conservative Dentistry and Endodontics School of dental sciencesSharda university
3Second year Post graduate, Department of conservative Dentistry and Endodontics School of dental sciencesSharda university
4Second year Post graduate, Department of conservative Dentistry and Endodontics School of dental sciences, Sharda university
5 Associate Professor, Public Health Dentistry, SGT Dental College, Hospital & Research Institute, SGT University, Gurugram
6Assistant Professor, Public Health DentistrySchool of Dental sciences Sharda university
ABSTRACT
In our country, where FO is still in its early phase, it becomes a necessity to educate and aware the crime investigating officers and their team with the tools of forensic dental science and protocols that are to be followed. This would help them to identify, recover, and interpret the dental evidence correctly, thus providing timely justice to all . This questionnaire-based study is pursued with the following objectives that were assessed in the study among police officials in Punjab.
KEYWORD: Forensic Odontology ( FO ), dental evidence , police officials
INTRODUCTION:
It is rightly said,
"Each human has right to justice"
But often due to lack of evidence and lack of effort justice gets denied. Forensic Odontology a branch of Forensic sciences that uses the skill of the dentist for personal identification at the time of mass calamities, sexual assault and child abuse and many more [1]. Forensic odontology involves proper examination, handling, and evaluation of dental evidence, which is presented in the interest of justice [2].
Incidences of brutal rapes, attacks by terrorists, homicides, and several natural disasters in India have
increased drastically in past few years [3]. Many of such cases have been primarily solved with the use of forensic dental evidence.
Nirbhaya rape and murder case (2015), where bitemarks on victim's body were evaluated using photographs and computer-aided analysis of the bitemarks to identify the suspects [4]. In Mohammad Zia-ul-Haqcase,who was the the sixth President of Pakistan, He died in a plane crash on August 17th 1988. Identification of his body was done by his dentition [5].
Moreover, Indian statistics reveals nearly 2,61,779 deaths in 2008–2019 due to various natural disasters.
These incidents have emphasized on the necessity to adopt a multidisciplinary approach for identifying the victims and perpetrators .The information on the individual’s age, race, and gender and also sometimes cause and time of death could be ascertained by recognizing dental sample as substantial evidence by police personnel as they are the first one to take custody of investigating sites/crime scenes [6].
In our country, where FO is still in its early phase, it becomes a necessity to educate and aware the crime investigating officers and their team with the tools of forensic dental science and protocols that are to be followed. This would help them to identify, recover, and interpret the dental evidence correctly, thus providing timely justice to all [7]. This questionnaire-based study is pursued with the following objectives that were assessed in the study by Deepti et al (2018) [8] among police officials in Punjab.
OBJECTIVES:
To evaluate the knowledge and attitude of police officials in dental evidence
To assess the awareness about identification, collection, utilization, and interpretation of dental evidence by investigators
To emphasize the importance of utilization of Forensic Odontology ( FO )protocols for evidence evaluation
To develop an awareness/training program based on the feedback.
MATERIALS AND METHOD:
Ethical Clearance for conducting the survey was obtained (Ref.No.SU/SMS &R/76-A/2019/154)This questionnaire-based survey was conducted by the post graduate student under guidance. For sampling, Stratified technique was used, and police stations/posts in Greater Noida were covered. On duty 350 gazetted and 350 non gazetted police officials from Greater Noida were covered after taking their consent.
The questionnaire was formulated to evaluate approach towards utilization of dental evidence and FO science as well as awareness among the participants with total of 22 different questions (Annexure –IA & IB). Questionnaire was provided in both Hindi as well as English.The questionnaire validity was assessed in two languages (Hindi & English). The validity of the content was processed by distributing the questionnaire among experts in forensics and investigating officers.
The questionnaire was in two parts. The first section was regarding population details and the second part included questions on forensic dental evidence. A consent was taken prior from the participant
min). Statistical evaluation was done using descriptive statistics .After completion questionnaires were used to prepare spreadsheets for data entry, and the data was subjected to analysis.
RESULTS:
The first half of the questionnaire obtained the demographic details of the participants including gender, rank, qualifications, and the experience. The males (87%) constituted the dominant study participants when compared to females (13%). More than half of the participants had experience of <
20 years (61%) .The constables and head constables constituted 34.9% and 11.1% of the study population, respectively.
[TABLE 1 & GRAPH 1]
Demographic details of the participants
Gender MALE (87 %)
609
FEMALE (13%) 91
Experience >20 YEARS (61%)
427
< 20 YEARS (39%) 273
Qualification 10TH 189
12TH 133 GRADUATE 147
POST GRADUATE 231
RANK CONSTABLE 244
HEADCONSTABLE 78 ASI 212 CP,DCP,SI,CO 166 TABLE 1 : Demographic details of the participants
GRAPH 1 : Demographic details of the participants
PARAMETER IN QUESTION TOTAL POSITIVE RESPONSE
Forensic Odontology for Age Estimation 167
Dental Evidence in Context of Law 79
Use of Dental Prosthesis as Evidence 30
No Protocol for Evidence Collection 109
Knowledge about high Profile cases
(Nirbhaya case) solved using Dental Evidence
188
Circumferential Evidence for Human Identification
112
Bite Marks as evidence for crime scenes 76
Tissue sample/saliva around bite mark 59
For Evidence Collection rely on training 89
Fingerprints as evidence over Dental evidence
189
Evidence in child abuse cases 67
Bite mark and saliva as evidence 70
Methods for Collection of Bite Marks 23
Lack of Records 48
TABLE 2: Significant Findings of the Study
87.0%
13.0%
61.0%
39.0%
27.0%
19.0% 21.0%
33.0% 34.9%
11.1%
30.3%
23.7%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
100.0%
Male Female < 20 years > 20 years 10th 12th Graduation Post-graduation Constable Head Constable ASP SHO
Gender Experience Qualification Rank
GRAPH 2 : Significant Findings of the Study
The Participants irrespective of their ranks have enough knowledge about the role of forensic in age estimation (P = 0.009) with 100% response rate among gazetted officers. About 53.6% of high-rank officers had knowledge about the role of evidence in the context of law. About 38.16% mentioned Nirbhaya case, but most of them were unaware of other cases on questioning on high profile cases
BASED ON RANK P-value
Constable Head Constable
ASP SHO N
Forensic Odontology for Age Estimation
88 118 208 154 568 0.009*
15.5% 20.8% 36.6% 27.1% 100.0%
Dental Evidence in Context of Law
85 109 166 138 498 0.003*
17.1% 21.9% 33.3% 27.7% 100.0%
Use of Dental Prosthesis as Evidence
89 113 158 144 504 0.010*
17.7% 22.4% 31.3% 28.6% 100.0%
No Protocol for Evidence Collection
109 99 109 111 428 0.209
25.5% 23.1% 25.5% 25.9% 100.0%
Knowledge about high Profile cases (Nirbhaya case solved using Dental Evidence)
78 81 140 133 432 0.001*
18.1% 18.8% 32.4% 30.8% 100.0%
TABLE 3: OBSERVATIONS BASED ON THE RANK
167
79
30 109
188
112 76
59 89
189
67 70
23 48
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200
The positive response to questions Forensic Odontology for Age Estimation, Dental Evidence in Context of Law, Use of Dental Prosthesis as Evidence and Knowledge about high Profile cases (Nirbhaya case solved using Dental Evidence) was significantly more among ASP followed by SHO compared to Constable and Head Constable.
GRAPH 3 : OBSERVATIONS BASED ON THE RANK
BASED ON QUALFICATION p-value
10th 12th Graduation Post- graduation
Nth Circumstantial
Evidence for Human Identification
78 121 109 134 442 0.003*
17.6% 27.4% 24.7% 30.3% 100.0%
Bite Marks as evidence for crime scenes
89 101 121 156 467 0.001*
19.1% 21.6% 25.9% 33.4% 100.0%
Tissue sample/saliva around bite mark
98 118 143 151 510
0.022*
19.2% 23.1% 28.0% 29.6% 100.0%
For Evidence Collection rely on training
93 123 139 148 503
0.003*
18.5% 24.5% 27.6% 29.4% 100.0%
TABLE 4 : OBSERVATIONS BASED ON QUALIFICATION
The positive response to Circumstantial Evidence for Human Identification, Bite Marks as evidence for
15.5% 17.1% 17.7%
25.5%
18.1%
20.8% 21.9% 22.4% 23.1%
18.8%
36.6%
33.3%
31.3%
25.5%
32.4%
27.1% 27.7% 28.6%
25.9%
30.8%
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
Forensic Odontology for Age Estimation
Dental Evidence in Context of Law
Use of Dental Prosthesis as
Evidence
No Protocol for Evidence Collection
Knowledge about high Profile cases (Nirbhaya case solved using Dental
Evidence) Constable Head Constable ASP SHO
significantly more among subjects with post-graduation followed by graduation, 12th compared to 10th.
GRAPH 4: OBSERVATIONS BASED ON QUALIFICATION
OBSERVATIONS BASED ON THE EXPERIENCE
< 20 years >20 years Nth p-value Fingerprints as evidence
over Dental evidence
288 389 677
0.001*
42.5% 57.5% 100.0%
Evidence in child abuse cases
139 271 410
0.003*
33.9% 66.1% 100.0%
Bite mark and saliva as evidence
176 165 341
0.009*
51.6% 48.4% 100.0%
Methods for Collection of Bite Marks
195 133 328
0.001*
59.5% 40.5% 100.0%
Lack of Records 88 56 144
0.005*
61.1% 38.9% 100.0%
TABLE 5: OBSERVATIONS BASED ON THE EXPERIENCE
The positive response to Fingerprints as evidence over Dental evidence and Evidence in child abuse cases was significantly more among > 20 years compared to < 20 years.
The positive response to bite mark and saliva as evidence, methods for collection of bite marks and lack of records was significantly more among < 20 years compared to among > 20 years.
17.6% 19.1% 19.2% 18.5%
27.4%
21.6% 23.1% 24.5%
24.7%30.3% 25.9% 28.0% 27.6%
33.4%
29.6% 29.4%
0.0%
5.0%
10.0%
15.0%
20.0%
25.0%
30.0%
35.0%
40.0%
Circumstancial Evidence for
Human Identification
Bite Marks as evidence for crime scenes
Tissue sample/saliva around bite mark
For Evidence Collection rely
on training 10th 12th Graduation Post-graduation
GRAPH 5: OBSERVATIONS BASED ON THE EXPERIENCE DISCUSSION:
At the site of crime investigation, all the involved in crime investigating and especially the first responders should have an adequate understanding about the forensic process and the protocols. The priority should be to maintain the integrity of crime scene and importantly the evidence [6,9].
Forensic odontology has also played a central role in bringing unsolved investigations to a satisfactory conclusion at many occasions. The study attempted, evaluate the knowledge, awareness and understanding of police personnel when it comes to dental evidences.
Results of our study were in accordance with study by Garg et al. (2015)[10] and Pandit et al.(2016)[4] in terms of role of police personnel at the crime site and level of understanding of forensic data. Senthil et al. in their study in Puducherry observed that due to ignorance or lack of awarenessof officials, dental and oral findings were not properly recorded and considered that were substantial biological evidence[11].
Proper Guidelines and protocols to be followed for collection, identification and assessing evidence by officials must be laid down that are to be followed throughout the nation as adopted and implemented by American Board of FO [12]. For the sake of mutual benefits, it is important to have positive rapport among forensic dental services and police personnel. The change has to be initiated from the basic level. For Proper collection, preservation, documentation and analysis of the evidence and also to ensure proper scientific protocols, it is necessary to have integrated approach and teamwork. [13].
There were several limitations to our study. Being a questionnaire based study, subjective nature could be a confounding factor. Another was the small sample size of the study, although it was based on stratification.
In Majority, of the criminal cases, mass disasters or conflicts dealt by the police force are not interwined by forensic dental experts [8]. Under such circumstances the skills of forensic odontologist could be a game changer [14]. Pandit et al. also emphasized the need for better interaction between the police officials and forensic odontologists [4] .The use and utilization of FO in investigating the crime for identifying victim and suspect was advocated by Mansour Al-Sarhani [15]. Rahmat et al. also suggested that education programs
42.5%
33.9%
51.6%
59.5% 61.1%
57.5%
66.1%
48.4%
40.5% 38.9%
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
Fingerprints as evidence over Dental evidence
Evidence in child abuse cases
Bite mark and saliva as evidence
Methods for Collection of Bite
Marks
Lack of Records
< 20 years >20 years
could help in educating and spreading awareness among police officers [16].
The study was conducted with the intention to change the perception of society, Police Department and law towards forensic dental science. The results of our study, motivates us and also others to conduct awareness camps, training sessions or programs to update knowledge and awareness.
CONCLUSION:
The study focused to make the first authority at crime scene, aware of the expanding role of FO. Dental Professionals can play a prime role in highlighting and spreading awareness among the police personnel and educating them regarding the potential application of forensic evidences and use as legal evidence.
ETHICAL CLEARANCE: Annexure-III
FINANCIAL SUPPORT: Seed Fund -1902 SDS, Sharda University (Annexure -IV) CONFLICT OF INTEREST: Nil
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