Bindi Burnell

Northern Territory Police, Fire and Emergency Services

I joined the NTG in 1989 as an apprentice chef at the RDH. After completing my trade certificate I was seeking something more fulfilling, and in 1995 joined the NT Police Force as a Constable, where I was posted to Alice Springs after completion of recruit training.

In 2004 I commenced my specialisation in the area of Crime Scene Examination and completed a Vocational Graduate Certificate in Public Safety (Crime Scene Investigation) through the Canberra Institute of Technology.

I have specialised further in the areas of Skeletal Remains Recovery and Disaster Victim Identification (DVI), I am the current NT DVI coordinator where I maintain responsibility for the training, equipment and capability of the NT DVI Team.

I have conducted research to “Measure the decomposition of buried remains in different soil profiles in the Top End of the Northern Territory” and in 2017 I was awarded 1st Prize Winning Educational Article for my research in the Australian Police Journal.

I have been involved in many high profile cases with the highlights of my career being.

The recovery of the skeletal remains of long term missing person Carlie Sinclair from a remote clandestine grave site; as well as, the DVI responses of the Air North Plane Crash at the Darwin Airport in 2010, and, the DVI response to the Kululuk Fatal House Fire in 2014.