This whole story reminds me of a conversation I once overheard between a father and son, recounting some exploits in their younger days.
The story is set on the site of a renovation that their firm is conducting on a high rise building that houses a physician's office among other businesses.
At lunchtime, Bob Sr. sits down next to his son and opens up a large ballistic nylon bag. To junior's surprise, the zipper opens to reveal a brand new Nikon 35mm camera and a wide array of accessories (lenses, flashes, filters, etc) worth several thousand dollars.
The son says to the father "Dad... Where the crappity smack did you get that?" to which the father replies "Up in the doctor's office. crappity smack'em, he's got insurance."
"That's not right..." the son retorts… "These people gave us work, trusted us in their place of business, and that's how you treat them?" "As I said, crappity smack EM... You'll learn someday, son..." replied the seasoned veteran.
The son concedes and the men stow their lunch pails in the van right next to their new photography equipment.
After several more hours, quitting time arrives. As they are packing up to leave, Bob Sr. notices his son struggling to load tools in the back. He goes over to assist, and notices that junior is having problems fitting the tools inside due to the presence of a video camera, tripod, and porta-pack VCR.
“WHAT THE crappity smack IS THIS?!!!” demands the father? “I picked it up in the back of the office,” the younger man replies. I thought about what you said, and you’re right… crappity smack ‘EM”
“You can’t do that… You can do some, but not that much. You can’t crappity smacking do that shit...” lectured the father. "You're completely out of line..."
The two then proceeded to have an argument about
just how much property one can ethically steal. In the end, both the still and video equipment left in the van with our dynamic duo.
Why do I bring this up?
The anecdote is relevant because
the situaiton described above is eerily similar to the one allegedly involving Mr. Turk. Yes, if true, his behavior is absolutely outrageous. Yet, like Bob Jr, it’s almost hard to blame him considering the pitiful example that his role models in the world of polygraphy have set when it comes to ethics.
After all, a prominent past-president of the American Polygraph Association—the nation’s premier association of polygraph examiners—has been outed for falsely representing himself as a Ph.D to courts and major municipalities—and NO ACTION WAS TAKEN AGAINST HIM BY THE APA.
Metaphorically, if Ed Gelb can steal the 35mm camera in public view and get away clean, how can we expect Kory Turk--or any other polygraph operator for that matter-- to leave the video equipment in the closet collecting dust? Quote:They use a state-of-the-art Limestone Technologies polygraph, which costs about $5,000, used in tandem with a computer and specialized software.
Oh, well, there's always
eBay.