{"id":3841,"date":"2002-12-17T15:30:58","date_gmt":"2002-12-17T20:30:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/?p=3841"},"modified":"2021-03-06T05:18:54","modified_gmt":"2021-03-06T10:18:54","slug":"police-applicants-face-testing-with-polygraph","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/2002\/12\/17\/police-applicants-face-testing-with-polygraph\/","title":{"rendered":"“Police Applicants Face Testing With Polygraph”"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\n\n

Ryan Goudelocke reports<\/a> for The Advocate<\/em> of Baton Rouge, Louisana. Excerpt: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They’re called “lie detectors” for a reason: For decades polygraph operators have claimed the ability to sniff out deception by asking searching questions and watching squiggly lines drawn on paper.<\/p>

And it’s a staple of crime fiction: Usually there’s a harshly lit room where the machine operator glares at a trembling perp — optionally smoking a shaking cigarette — until he breaks down.<\/p>

“It’s kind of like the closer they get to the lie detector, the better their memory gets,” Baton Rouge polygrapher Larry Carroll said.<\/p>

In 1988, Congress prohibited private-sector employers from requiring polygraph tests as part of pre-employment screenings. Before then, Carroll said, 15 to 20 local firms offered polygraph tests. Now he’s alone under “lie detectors” in the Yellow Pages.<\/p>

Lawmakers left many exceptions, including government agencies at every level. The Employee Polygraph Protection Act virtually ended pre-employment polygraphing outside law enforcement and security-sensitive positions, such as nuclear power plant guards.<\/p>

Recent research has cast doubt on even those uses, and at least one lawsuit is challenging their use by the federal government. But if you’re looking for a job in local law enforcement, get ready to get hooked up to the lie machine.<\/p>

“If we didn’t feel it was useful, we wouldn’t be doing it,” East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Lt. Darrell O’Neal said.<\/p>

The Sheriff’s Office has two trained polygraphers; one administers tests, and another, among other job duties, reviews the results. Every job applicant is tested.<\/p>

“If people put too much weight behind a polygraph, that might not be good,” O’Neal said. “But it’s a tool that’s only part of a criminal or background investigation.”<\/p>

Both the State Police and Baton Rouge Police Department routinely administer polygraph tests to prospective employees, though State Police applicants can choose not to take the test.<\/p>

In-house specialists at all three agencies give those tests and assist in criminal and internal investigations. You won’t see polygraph results in a courtroom in a criminal trial.<\/p>

Federal courts have upheld the right of local jurisdictions to exclude polygraphs from proceedings. In a 1998 opinion, Justice Clarence Thomas spoke for a U.S. Supreme Court majority when he wrote, “There is simply no consensus that polygraph evidence is reliable.”<\/p>

In October, a National Academy of Sciences panel released a review of literature on polygraph reliability in employment screening. Their conclusion: “(Polygraph) accuracy … is insufficient to justify reliance on its use in employee screening in federal agencies.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ryan Goudelocke reports for The Advocate of Baton Rouge, Louisana. Excerpt: They’re called “lie detectors” for a reason: For decades polygraph operators have claimed the ability to sniff out deception by asking searching questions and watching squiggly lines drawn on paper. 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