A Review of the FBI's Handling of the Brandon Mayfield Case, unclassified executive summary.

Went back over the executive summary on the Mayfield error back in 2004 and want to discuss what the Office Inspector General determined were the causes of the error as well as what the OIG suggested to prevent similar errors in the future.
The report listed six (6) causes for the error and in this blog I'd like to discuss the 1st. major contributing factor in the error. The OIG found the primary cause of the error was the similarity in Mayfield's print with the latent found in Spain. " Despite the unusual similarity in the relationship between points on the Mayfield and Daoud prints, Mayfield and Daoud did not have identical fingerprints." It also pointed out there are no studies on how often situations similar to this occur but anecdotal reports this as a rare occurrence. The identification was an IAFIS suspect and as the OIG pointed out "The enormous size of the IAFIS database and power of the IAFIS program can find a confusingly similar print." The OIG in my opinion was correct in highlighting this as the major factor in the error. As databases increase and algorithms improve there will be more suspects produced, that will have unusual similarity between points but will not be the individuals print.
So can this type of error be prevented ? There will continue to be similar errors we can minimize the numbers with training and utilization of fingerprint experts for the defense. In the Mayfield case you had four (4) experienced and well trained fingerprint examiners that made this bad identification.


Bob McAuley
Dir. Operations/Training
Forensic Biometric Identification Solutions LLC.