Primary Identification Method
Definition
A method accepted by INTERPOL and most national standards as sufficient on its own to confirm identity: fingerprints, dental comparison, or DNA. Visual identification, personal effects, and medical implants are secondary methods.
- Accepted methods
- Fingerprints, dental comparison, DNA
- Standard body
- INTERPOL DVI guidelines
- Sufficiency
- Any one is accepted alone to confirm identity
- Contrast
- Visual ID, effects, implants are secondary methods
Common questions
Why are visual identification and personal effects classed as only secondary methods?+
They rely on features that can be altered, mistaken, or planted, such as changed appearance after trauma or belongings that were exchanged or stolen, so they support but do not on their own meet the confidence threshold INTERPOL sets for a confirmed identification.
Can two secondary methods together substitute for one primary method?+
INTERPOL's DVI framework does not treat combined secondary identifiers as equivalent to a single primary method; a confirmed identification in a mass fatality operation is expected to rest on at least one primary method, with secondary methods used to corroborate it.
Related terms
- Ante-Mortem (AM) Record
- Any dental documentation from the person's life: radiographs, clinical charts, study models, photographs, and prosthetic records. These form the known standard against...
- Calcification Temperature Threshold
- The temperature at which dental enamel begins to structurally degrade. Enamel sustains fires up to approximately 200°C with minimal change; above 600-800°C...
- DVI (Disaster Victim Identification)
- The systematic multi-agency process for identifying victims of mass-casualty events, governed by the INTERPOL DVI Guide 2018 revision. Organises work into five...
- Post-Mortem (PM) Record
- The dental charting, radiographs, and descriptive notes taken from recovered human remains at the mortuary. The data set to be matched to...
- Reconciliation
- The formal process of comparing an AM record against a PM record to determine whether they represent the same individual. A confirmed...