Building Confidence By Protecting People

Interior Ministry’s internal affairs division plans to check police officers on lie detectors, division head told a Russian government newspaper.

“When discussing a draft law on the use of polygraphs, we propose legally fixing the necessity to hold psycho-physiological tests for certain categories of police officers,” police Lt.-Gen. Yury Draguntsov told Rossiiskaya Gazeta to be published on Thursday.

Draguntsov also said his division received some 50,000 complaints regarding law enforcement personnel in 2009, of which “approximately one half were confirmed.” He said the number was 50% higher than in previous years.

He said over 4,000 police officers were brought to criminal account last year.

Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev vowed last August to eradicate police corruption, a widespread occurrence in Russia.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev pledged to fight corruption when he entered office in May 2008, highlighting the issue as one of the country’s most serious problems.

A series of scandals involving police in 2009 culminated in a presidential decree ordering a major overhaul of the Interior Ministry, with personnel cuts of 20% over two years to be balanced by higher salaries for remaining staff.

Earlier this year, 19 traffic police officers were arrested on bribery charges in Russia’s southern city of Astrakhan.

In another recent high-profile police crime case, police Major Denis Yevsyukov killed two people and injured seven in a Moscow supermarket in April last year.

LIE detectors are being used by credit-crunch hit Midland companies to sniff out criminal employees.

The high-tech new service, run by ex-detectives Andrew Armstrong and Patrick Mulligan, is being snapped up by businesses keen to stamp out corruption and theft.

The former West Midlands Police officers, who own Wolverhampton-based Forensic Vetting Ltd, have been inundated with work from the financial sector, with bosses keen to root out fraudsters like rogue American banker Bernie Madoff.

Polygraph testing monitors a suspect’s pulse and blood pressure, and is widely used by law enforcement agencies in the US.

Mr Armstrong said: “Just look at the amount of financial fraud there has been over the last 18 months and it becomes obvious that employers would be very keen to have us in to vet current and prospective employees.It was while working on homicide cases in the Caribbean that I discovered how useful and reliable polygraph tests can be.”

“I then went to the US and was trained to use them by professionals there and returned to Britain to set up Forensic Vetting Ltd.

“We have worked for many companies across the country and many in the Midlands and we are hoping to do even more commercial work as the business grows.”

But last night Simon Davis, from human rights group Privacy International, described the polygraph tests as “outrageous”.

He said: “My view is that it is a breach of the Data Protection Act and there is no basis in law for the use of such technology.

“In fact there is overwhelming evidence that the technology can be abused and the findings misrepresented.

“It is total overkill and with all the information available to employers it would be very inadvisable for them to start their relationship with their staff on such a paranoid footing.

“It assumes guilt, in my mind these companies do not deserve to employ people.”

It is not the first time the use of new technology to monitor staff has caused controversy.

Last year we revealed how Midland firms were looking at voice recognition equipment to detect if employees were faking illness.

But Mr Armstrong last night defended his business.

“We are members of the National Polygraph Association, the American Polygraph Association and the British and European Polygraph Association, working to their professional and ethical standards,” he said.

“Nobody can ever be forced to take part, they only work if people give their consent, and we would only ever carry one out where the subject has volunteered.

“We are only there to carry out the tests and pass on the information, we have never carried anything through to conviction, although we certainly would if the offence was serious enough.

“There is this idea, mainly from TV and films, that polygraph tests are quick and dramatic and that the subject can somehow be coerced into it.

‘‘That couldn’t be further from the truth.

“I would say no interview technique is 100 per cent effective but polygraphs are about 85 to 89 per cent accurate and that is much better than anything else.”

The 2009 contest season of the Natural Physique Association saw a record level of drug testing take place within the association.

This was carried out by way of our already established WADA compliant Urinalysis program, and for the first time since the inception of the NPA, a series of Polygraph tests conducted at the NPA British Championships, held in October. It was one of these tests that yielded the most significant finding of the season.

One of the athletes tested by Polygraph at the British Finals was Steven Jenkin, the reigning Heavyweight and Overall South-West Champion, who had arrived at the British Finals to compete in the Heavyweight class there. His Polygraph test results showed a significant reaction to the questions put to him, and a clear indication of past use of banned substances. As a result of this, he was instantly disqualified from the contest and subsequently stripped of his South-West titles. Steven Jenkin is now banned for LIFE from competing with the NPA, or holding membership to the association.

As a result of this disqualification, Ian Munro has now been declared the Heavyweight winner of the 2009South-West Championships, which took place in Taunton on July 5th. It was deemed by the NPA Committee that as Ian Munro was denied the rightful opportunity to contest the Overall title on the day of the contest, that there will be now be no Overall South-West Champion for 2009. Of course, this also impacts on Lightweight winner Richard Walker, who originally placed second in the Overall to Steven Jenkin and would have quite likely have been vying for the Overall title with Ian Munro had he have had the opportunity on the day. Although there is no way of giving either of these men back their moment of glory, it is hoped that they can at least draw from this experience that the NPA has done everything it can to eliminate those from their contests who choose not to play by the rules.

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Two former detectives who set up a lie detector business say more firms are wanting to test if potential employees have been lying on their Cvs.

Andrew Armstrong and Patrick Mulligan worked for West Midlands Police when they were seconded to St Lucia, where they were introduced to polygraphs.

The pair, of Dudley, claim they are being contacted by increasing numbers of employers to help with recruitment. However, psychologists have criticised the accuracy of polygraphs.

In the United States, lie detector tests for new recruits are restricted to high-security positions. However, in the UK, a polygraph can be legally used for any job as long as the participant signs consent forms.

The test is based on changes in breathing, sweat levels and blood pressure and is said to be 98% accurate. The data from the polygraph tests is encrypted and must be destroyed after a year.

Mr Mulligan said their lie detector process, which has been used on clients including a security company and a bodybuilding business, did not tell potential employees whether to recruit someone or not. He said it just gave them the data and allowed the companies to make decisions for themselves.

Santo Domingo. – Seven colonels and 12 other officers of lower rank were discharged from the Drugs Control Agency (DNCD) for serious offenses or for being unreliably in the duties to fight drug trafficking, when they failed a polygraph (lie detector) test.

DNCD chief Rolando Rosado also revealed that five other officers, one Police and one Army colonel and a Navy Captain, were fired for failing to file their financial statement, whereas two captains were returned to the Air Force for the same reason, but didn’t provide their names.

He said the new mechanisms to purge and control the conduct of the DNCD’s members have led to the dismissal of more than 50 agents while others have been or brought up on charges in the last seven months. “The last result has been 19 officials, among them seven colonels and the same number of non-commissioned officers.”

The head of the DNCD said the cleanup will continue until all rotten apples have been removed. “More than DNCD 50 members have been expelled in the last in seven months, for taking part in to activities contrary to the regulations.”

In a world of new-fangled law-enforcement gadgets and snazzy crime-fighting technology, police are embracing an old standby, the polygraph, to help crack cases and keep an eye on bad guys.

Law enforcement officers across the country increasingly use the “lie detector” in situations such as interviews of domestic-violence convicts and on married couples in immigration cases, experts say. The FBI uses it in terrorism cases.

Results generally are inadmissible in court, but polygraph results can lead to arrests.

“Normally, a person who’s being honest has no problem taking it,” Boca Raton Detective Juan Carlos Pijuan said. “It’s just something we use as a tool to continue our investigation.” Pijuan, a certified polygraph examiner, said many people who know they’re not telling the truth still are willing to take the test, thinking they can beat it. They’re even shown the questions in advance.

But with a polygraph, biological responses cut through a lie, experts say.

That, Pijuan said, is what happened to Nelson Uraga Albino, who admitted to his involvement in a 2007 Boca Raton homicide after failing the lie detector.

“This was a person who said [prior to the test] they didn’t see anything and weren’t there,” Pijuan said.

The test indicated otherwise. Albino, 32, is serving 10 years in prison.

The FBI used a polygraph to help lead to the arrest and conviction of Robert Caragol, swimming coach at Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale. Last year, Caragol, 36, pleaded guilty to distribution of pornography to minors and was sentenced to 12 1/2 years in federal prison.

Sensors monitor perspiration, respiration and heart rate, giving away the person’s deception, whether the person knows it or not, experts say. “You can’t beat the instrument, but you can beat the examiner,” said Wade Moss, vice president of the Florida Polygraph Association.

When a person is confronted with a tough question, the body goes into “fight or flight” mode, Moss explained. Adrenaline kicks in and the body shows it.

“Your body doesn’t know if it’s a big lie or a little lie. It’s just a lie,” Pijuan said. “It reacts the same whether I ask you about your name or if it’s a homicide.”

The state Department of Corrections uses polygraphs when a judge orders it during treatment of sex offenders. “We use it as a tool to look at behavior,” said Jenny Nimer, the DOC’s assistant secretary for community corrections. “There may be things he says in the polygraph exam that he’s been thinking about, something that puts us on alert.”

Jill Levinson, professor of human services at Lynn University in Boca Raton, last year published a study on sex offenders and polygraphs. She found the tests useful in “encouraging the disclosure of past sexual crimes.”

She noted that the test is better used for treatment, as its accuracy has limitations and should not be used to determine innocence or guilt.

The polygraph dates to the 1900s. Though widely accepted, it still generates controversy. The National Academy of Sciences concluded in 2002 that the devices were not consistent enough for screenings when hiring national security employees, according to the Smithsonian.

The physiological responses measured by the machine can be the result of many factors other than lying, including mere nervousness, the Smithsonian reported.

“Nervousness is a consistency,” Florida Atlantic University criminology professor Richard Mangan said. Therefore, there would be no changes in the person’s biological responses throughout the interview.

But there are, usually with the heart and blood pressure, Mangan said. “It’s hard to control that ticker.”

Staff Researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.

A man who raped a young girl in Greater Manchester and threatened her with a sledgehammer if she told anyone has been jailed for 14 years.

David Court, 61, of Ruby Street, Astley Bridge was found guilty of indecent assault and rape at Bolton Crown Court.

He first raped his victim in 1996 when she was 10 years old, but she did not come forward until 2009, police said.

Det Con Pam Chandler said: “What she suffered is unthinkable but I would like to commend her for her bravery.”

The victim was raped a second time at Court’s home, where she was helping him tend horses that he kept. She revealed what had happened after seeing Court at a function in January 2009.

Court offered to take a lie detector test to prove his innocence but later confessed and was arrested.

Police said that Court complained about what would happen to his horses if he went to jail.

Det Con Pam Chandler said: “To assault and rape a defenceless, vulnerable young girl is a sickening act. To then threaten her with a hammer if she ever spoke out just compounds what a cruel and vindictive man Court is.

“He even seemed more bothered about his horses than what a traumatic ordeal he had put this young girl through when confronted with a lie detector.

“Her actions have put a very dangerous man where he belongs which is prison.” Court was also ordered to sign the Sex Offenders Register for life.

“In Russia the amount of polygraph examinations within the Federal Government, Law enforcement and the Private Sector comes to 100,000 – 150,000 annually. The current situation gives us new opportunities of cooperation and development. The APA mission is to ensure the highest standards in the administration of polygraph and the International professional community seeks the ways enriched with knowledge and experience APA has.”

Excerpt from a Letter to the Editor of the American Polygraph Association from Yury I Kholodny and Alexander V Eliseev (Russian APA members)

Reproduced in the July / August 2010 American Polygraph Association Magazine

Volume 43,4

Phnom Penh – Staff at Cambodia’s newly-formed anti-corruption unit will have to take an annual lie detector test to ensure their integrity, national media reported Tuesday. Om Yentieng, the unit’s chairman, told a workshop in Phnom Penh the polygraph test was one of a range of measures that would be used to ensure officials remained squeaky clean.

‘All investigation officials will be supervised by a small unit that will monitor them to make sure they are not corrupted,’ Om Yentieng said, according to the Cambodia Daily newspaper. ‘The polygraph machine will question whether they are lying or not,’ he said, adding that staff would also need to disclose with whom they ate lunch and dinner.

‘We have a small, secret unit to monitor them and they must declare their conflicts of interest,’ Om Yentieng said. ‘They cannot go anywhere eating with anyone without our authorization.’ However, veteran opposition parliamentarian Son Chhay, a regular critic of the government and corruption, dismissed the measures.

He said the authorities would be better off outlining the steps they would take to tackle graft, and could start with telling the public how the unit recruits its staff. ‘There is no transparency. You have to be clear with the public about how you recruit staff and what their backgrounds and qualifications are before we can move to the next stage of making them committed to doing their job properly,’ he said.

Son Chhay added that the government ought to invest more effort in removing thousands of ‘ghost’ employees in the civil service. Earlier this year the government admitted to at least 2,000 fake employees on the government payroll after an audit of 20 per cent of the bureaucracy. Cambodia is ranked as one of the world’s most corrupt countries by global corruption monitor Transparency International, which organised Monday’s workshop.

Even flawless candidates need reference checks.

In an Experian survey 71% of companies found “serious lying” going on in CVs, and there’s nothing worse than an austere fib. By all accounts the current financial situation has inspired even more creativity among desperate job-hunters, as another report showed that those in the 36-40 age bracket were the worst CV liars!

However, these professional lies tend to catch up with us eventually, at best resulting in embarrassing revelations and at worst ending up in getting the boot. Below is a top five CV fibs list for employers to spot and prospective employees to avoid: See link below for rest of article.