That's the title of an article in today's Houston Chronicle. LINK
Prompted by an audit last year that indicated the results of a few polygraph tests may have been questionable, the Houston Police Department completed an internal review Wednesday and determined no significant problems exist in the division, officials said.
The department's in-house review looked at more than 325 lie-detector tests administered by HPD from August 2004 to August 2006, HPD Executive Assistant Chief of Police Martha Montalvo said earlier this week.
Montalvo said she ordered the internal review after an audit conducted last year by the Department of Defense Polygraph Institute questioned results of nine polygraph exams and pointed out a few areas in the program that needed improvement.
The results of those nine tests indicated "no deception or inconclusive," when there may have been deception, Montalvo said.
She said there were no situations in which a person wrongly showed deception.
Upon further investigation, the results of those nine tests, used in criminal and administrative investigations, did not have bearing on the outcome of the investigations, Montalvo said.
In May 2006, HPD had asked the institute to look at a random sampling of tests after problems in HPD's crime lab, which came under fire four years ago for poor management and inaccurate work.
"I believe in outside auditors coming in," Montalvo said."When we did this, we recognized there would be changes."
Polygraphers, who were formerly trained by a state program, are now trained under federal standards, which are stricter, Montalvo said.
HPD has five polygraphers on staff who conduct an average of 500 to 600 polygraph tests annually, said Lisa Tharappel, senior identification officer for HPD. Officials said most are used for pre-employment.
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