Draft legislation pending in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives would prevent state and local law enforcement officers from being compelled to submit to lie detector "testing" when under investigation.

Senate Bill 840 introduced by Sen. Joseph R. Biden (D-DE) and co-sponsored by Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), is a bill "[t]o amend title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to provide standards and procedures to guide both State and local law enforcement agencies and law enforcement officers during internal investigations, interrogation of law enforcement officers, and administrative disciplinary hearings, to ensure accountability of law enforcement officers, to guarantee the due process rights of law enforcement officers, and to require States to enact law enforcement discipline, accountability, and due process laws." It provides in part:


Quote:

(9) USE OF HONESTY TESTING DEVICES PROHIBITED- No law enforcement officer under investigation may be compelled to submit to the use of a lie detector, as defined in section 2 of the Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 (29 U.S.C. 2001).

See the following Library of Congress page for the full text of the S.840 and details on its status:

http://rs9.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:s.00840:

House Resolution 1626 is a parallel bill introduced by Rep. Jim Ramstad (MN, 3rd) and co-sponsored by Rep. Tom Davis (VA, 11th), Rep. Martin Frost (TX, 24th), and Rep. Karen L. Thurman (FL, 5th). It provides the same protections as S.840.

See the following Library of Congress page for the full text of the H.R.1626 and details on its status:

http://rs9.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:h.r.01626:

These bills contain important additional protections for law enforcement personnel. Law enforcement labor organizations and concerned individuals should take a look at the provisions of these two bills and let their elected representatives know how they should vote on them.