AntiPolygraph.org’s George Maschke comments in this Los Angeles Daily News op-ed piece. Excerpt:
LOS Angeles has awarded a $615,000 noncompetitive contract to a company to give polygraph tests to Los Angeles Police Department recruits, paying double the going rate for lie-detector experts.
Phyllis Lynes, assistant general manager for the Personnel Department’s Public Safety Bureau, has defended the contract, saying, “The other alternative was not to staff the Police Department, and that’s not an acceptable alternative.”
A better alternative is to scrap the polygraph altogether.
Since February, when polygraph testing began, the LAPD has branded roughly half of the otherwise qualified applicants polygraphed as liars.
I have heard from numerous LAPD applicants who claim they were falsely accused of deception. One writes, “Here I was, thinking I was well on my way to serving LAPD with integrity and honor, being accused of not only being a druggie, but a liar as well.”
Another notes, “I was told that if I tell the truth I have nothing to worry about; boy, was I wrong.”
Those falsely accused of deception have little or no avenue of appeal.