What is it Used For? Kidnap/Ransom
High ranking executives and public persons face an increasing risk of dealing with kidnap for ransom situations. This is an increasingly common threat to persons who travel outside the developed world. Immediate access to pre-collected biometric data offers investigators timely, complete and accurate forensic leads necessary for real time responses to the highly dynamic events associated with kidnap for ransom situations.
Anyone who travels must consider the risk. Kidnappings are vastly underreported but is has been estimated that there are 15,000 – 30,000 events annually around the world, and more than 1000 each year affect executives.
“Most business travelers would say ‘it can’t happen to me’ if you told them they could be a victim of a kidnap and ransom or extortion (KRE) incident,” says Greg Bangs, vice president and product manager for KRE at Chubb. “While it may be true that it is more likely someone will become involved in a traffic accident overseas than to be in the midst of a terrorist or kidnapping attack, that mentality just doesn’t play smart these days.”
In these situations, it is crucial to be able to verify the identity of the victim, without direct contact and often with limited exposure. In these cases, identifying scars, marks, and tattoos are not likely to be visible, and without direct contact, finger printing and other friction ridge identification (i.e., joint, palm, or foot prints) are not possible. Friction ridge detail can be left behind to help guide the recovery along with potential DNA evidence.
Having records at the ready allows immediate response to critical situations; timeliness is a critical factor, since with every passing hour, useful information can be lost.
A complete Biometric Identification profile will maximize chances for rescue of the kidnapping victim. The profile gives investigators many tools to exploit leads from the location of the kidnapping.
