Federal Bureau of Investigation Quotes
A perfect match ….100% certainty … 100% reliable
In 2005 terrorists exploded bombs in the Spanish Railroad system. Fingerprints were found on bombs. The FBI found that the prints belonged to Brandon Mayfield, an Oregon attorney who married an Islamic Egyptian woman; he also had a Muslim client. He was arrested and held without bail based on the FBI testimony about the quality of the fingerprint match the quotes from which are above. The Spanish police did not think that there was a match and kept investigating and found the bomber whose fingerprints matched the samples perfectly. Based on this embarrassing fact, Mayfield was released. The quotation shows that there were no accepted forensic science standards. Each fingerprint examiner, sets his own standards for what he will describe as a “perfect match” of 100% reliability. The FBI sworn expert testimony was 100% wrong. Forensic testimony came under suspicion; public opinion changed when people realized that fingerprinting is not the objective reliable identifier that they thought. See linked quotes.
FBI, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Testimony to the Federal Court about a false fingerprint match in the case of Brandon Mayfield, May 2004
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
The FBI’s self promotion over the years is legend. However they have covered up some major shortcomings. One of the most serious was the famous FBI Technical Laboratory which states and cities often use for their case investigations. However, in 1997 some scientists claimed the FBI was not very scientific and its methods were shoddy. The agency denied the accusations but the Justice Department Inspector General conducted a major investigation and found even more major problems that the critics had charged. Later, the American Academy of Science conducted a study and found that the FBI had unscientific procedures and staff who were not scientifically competent. Progress in remedying the situation has been slow as can be seen from {584974}
In 2005 terrorists exploded bombs in the Spanish Railroad system. Fingerprints were found on bombs. The FBI found that the prints belonged to Brandon Mayfield, an Oregon attorney who married an Islamic Egyptian woman; he also had a Muslim client. He was arrested and held without bail based on the FBI testimony about the quality of the fingerprint match the quotes from which are above. The Spanish police did not think that there was a match and kept investigating and found the bomber whose fingerprints matched the samples perfectly. Based on this embarrassing fact, Mayfield was released. The quotation shows that there were no accepted forensic science standards. Each fingerprint examiner, sets his own standards for what he will describe as a “perfect match” of 100% reliability. The FBI sworn expert testimony was 100% wrong! Forensic testimony came under suspicion; public opinion changed when people realized that fingerprinting is not the objective reliable identifier that they thought. Also, the FBI laboratory was generally not very competent scientifically in general. See {623726} and {584974}
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, the FBI is also a member of the U.S. Intelligence Community and reports to both the Attorney General and the Director of National Intelligence. A leading U.S. counter-terrorism, counterintelligence, and criminal investigative organization, the FBI has jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crimes.
