Forensic Research Project goes to the Dogs
Fri, 10 Jan 2014 14:14:00 GMT
A unique forensic research project at the University of Huddersfield has been featured by the Police Oracle website.
Dr Anna Williams (Pictured) is leading the groundbreaking work which aims to improve the training of 'cadaver' (human remains detection) dogs – used by the police to search for dead bodies – by investigating how dogs detect decomposing bodies.
The gases released when bodies decompose differ depending upon the type of body, and time since death. Decomposing pigs give off around 800 different chemicals wheras for human bodies, nearly 500 different chemicals have been identified. Dr Williams and her PhD student Lorna Irish are working to identify which gases or combination of gases the dogs react to and are hoping to identify chemicals which are specific to humans so that dogs can be specifically trained to search for those chemicals rather than detecting dead animals.
The study, which is in its preliminary stages, will also involve visiting police training facilities around the country to observe the methods different police forces use to train 'cadaver' dogs to detect bodies both on dry land and underwater.
