INTRODUCTION
- Interpol, the International Criminal Police Organization, has created a new worldwide database called ‘I-Familia’ to help police solve cold cases in member nations by identifying missing people using family DNA.
- Interpol billed it as a “groundbreaking database” that was formally released in June 2021, according to a statement.
- The worldwide organisation has employed cutting-edge scientific research and families’ DNA to identify missing people and unexplained human remains all around the world.
- Interpol has issued almost 12,000 active yellow notices, which are worldwide police alerts for missing individuals, by the late 2020s.
COMPONENTS OF I-FAMILIA AND ITS USES –
- The DNA profiles given by relatives are stored independently from any criminal records in a distinct worldwide database.
- Bonaparte is a DNA matching programme. It was created by Smart Research, a Dutch firm.
- DNA kinship matching, according to Interpol, is primarily utilised in situations when a direct sample of the missing individual is not available.
- I-Familia is the first worldwide database to automatically adjust for such discrepancies and give defined criteria on what constitutes a match without having any information of the missing person’s genetic heritage.
- Interpol mentioned a case from late 2020 in which DNA from the children of an Italian man who had been missing since 2004 was contributed to I-Familia, which was then compared to DNA from all the recognised human remains in the system.
- The DNA of the children was determined to match that of the body discovered in the Adriatic Sea. The database assisted in the resolution of a case that had been unsolved for 16 years.
SIGNIFICANCE OF DATABASE –
- DNA data was processed using secure communication channels, according to Interpol. It goes on to say that family members must agree to their data being used for overseas searches.
- The profile, which is supplied as an alphanumerical code, likewise has no nominal data attached.
- Interpol stated that the emotional toll on families who have been unsure whether their loved ones are alive or dead, sometimes for years, can be crushing while discussing the benefits of the database that would aid in the search for missing individuals.
- The lack of a death certificate might have significant financial and administrative consequences. All of this means that locating the information of missing people will not only bring closure to their families, but it will also have legal implications.
