THE ISSUE: The Eau Claire police chief proposed implementing polygraph testing in the officer application process.
To hold the title of police officer, a person must protect and serve the average citizen with honesty and integrity.
In order to ensure this fact, Eau Claire police chief Jerry Matysik proposed administering lie detector tests with a polygraph to Eau Claire police department applicants, according to an article in the Leader-Telegram.
According to the article, the polygraph would be used to measure honesty and investigate general background information, previous jobs and possible criminal activity. Character will also be a deciding factor in a candidate’s test, according to the article.
While the police chief may say the test is not meant to be used to find the flaws in each applicant, polygraphs put people in pressure situations that may affect how they answer each question. Plus, the police department already performs extensive background checks and personality profiles in each of the candidates, so the lie detector seems unnecessarily redundant.
A big reason the polygraph test is the wrong way to go about judging officer character and honesty is that they are never 100 percent correct. A candidate might crack under pressure and stumble through a question that is not out of the ordinary in a normal conversation. If the department is already doing psychological tests without a machine, then it is pointless to do it again with an unreliable device.
Granted it is extremely important for a potential officer to be an honest, law-abiding individual, it is equally as important to build a level of trust in his or her abilities to be a good officer.
With an extensive background check, psychological exam and physical testing already in place, the polygraph test seems to display almost too much paranoia towards potential members of the police force.
Yes, the criteria for evaluating someone’s credentials for being a police officer must be enacted with caution and skepticism, but how can those questions be answered by a device that cannot guarantee truthfulness?
