Important Ruling from Mass. SJC: Departments Can Force Polygraphs
June 11, 2008
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled unanimously that police officers can be forced to take lie detector tests during internal investigations into possible criminal activity.
The May 28 decision came in response to a case involving a Plymouth officer who was required to take a lie detector test after a 1999 accusation that he sexually abused two children. (The parents of the two children later said the charges were unfounded.) The district attorney decided against bringing criminal charges against the officer, but the chief insisted on a polygraph before allowing the officer back on duty. The officer was granted immunity from prosecution and took the polygraph, but said his rights had been violated. State law prohibits employers from using polygraph results as a basis for employment, but an exemption in the law allowed law enforcement to use the tests in internal inquiries even if no criminal charges would result.
IBPO attorney Michael Manning reviewed the SJC decision. “This ruling says that officers can be compelled to take polygraphs, but they can’t be forced without a grant of transactional immunity,” he said. “If the inquiry is about possible criminal conduct, they can’t make you take a polygraph unless you have immunity from criminal charges. But you can’t refuse the polygraph after you have been given immunity.”