n an article entitled “Just the Truth: LAPD recruits are having trouble with new lie-detector tests,” Bobbi Murray reports for LA Weekly. Excerpt:
After lagging behind other law-enforcement agencies that routinely give polygraph tests to potential recruits, the Los Angeles Police Department started using lie-detector tests to screen recruits in February.
One month later, the LAPD is faced with some eyebrow-raising statistics: Out of 59 candidates, 29 failed to show up for the test and 13 of the remaining 30 flunked, according to Phyllis Lynes, chief of the Public Safety Employment Division of the city’s personnel department. She says it’s safe to assume the no-shows got cold feet, though it’s possible some rescheduled their appointments.
LAPD Lieutenant Horace Frank says that the 59 recruits were already engaged in an involved hiring process when they received notices that they would need to schedule a polygraph test, a requirement that was part of the “integrity package” recommended by the department as part of reforms prompted by the Rampart corruption scandal. The drop-out rate is a good sign, says Frank. “If there’s a reason for individuals to de-select themselves when they find out they have to take a polygraph test, it’s good that they do that. From our standpoint, it’s good because we proposed the integrity package.”
The test deals with such issues as past employment, possible drug use and financial matters.
“This comes at a time when it’s incredibly difficult to recruit new officers to the department,” says City Councilman Mike Feuer, a candidate for city attorney who heard the figures last week when the Budget and Finance Committee reviewed a request from the LAPD for $1 million to expand advertising for LAPD recruits. “It also makes you wonder about the numbers of Police Academy graduates who would have passed if the testing had been in place before. Feuer acknowledges, however, that it’s difficult to infer much about current recruits based on the pattern. “There’s a much broader issue about the quality of our applicant pool,” he adds.