Photosales
niJobfinder
niCarfinder
Home Delivery
Propertynews
Firm gives lie detector test to staff
Friday, 17 April 2009
A security company is having lie detector tests carried out on its own employees in Northern Ireland in a bid to combat robberies, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal.
Israeli-based company Midot Integrity Assessment Systems, which specialises in polygraph examinations, was called in by Brinks following a number of robberies on security staff making deliveries, in an attempt to deter anyone who may be collaborating with crime gangs.
Brinks specialises in cash in transit deliveries and has found its employees targeted by armed gangs on several occasions.
The tests were being carried out on Brinks employees this week in a Belfast hotel by examiners from the Israeli Institute for Polygraph and Forensic Sciences.
Participation in the tests is voluntary. However, some staff members have contacted this paper to express concerns.
They said that while they support the company in its efforts to solve and prevent robberies, they feel that being asked to consent to lie detector testing is a breach of their human rights.
“We have been asked to consent to lie detectors tests following a number of robberies that appear to have inside collaboration/information.
“I believe this is being done in contravention of our human rights. However, we also support the company in trying to solve recent robberies,” a staff member told the Telegraph.
“We find it incredible — we employees have no other recourse than to comply,” the employee added.
When contacted by the Belfast Telegraph, Brinks would not make any official comment.
But a senior company source confirmed that the tests are being carried out at a number of branches across the UK and Europe, including Northern Ireland.
He said: “Polygraph testing is one of a number of measures employed by Brinks in a bid to show their clients — which include banks, retailers and jewellers — that Brinks personnel are reliable.”
Brinks security staff have been the target of a number of recent robberies and attempted robberies in the province.
Last month security staff were threatened and tied up as a substantial amount of money was stolen during an armed robbery of a Brinks van outside a Costcutter store in Co Londonderry. It is thought that more than £600,000 was taken from the Brinks' security delivery vehicle whose crew were on site replenishing a Bank of Ireland ATM.
Brinks in Israel was the first branch to use the Polygraph testing.
- Text Size
Also in this section
- Ulster Museum’s Age of the Dinosaur a monster of a show
- Fury as minister attends funeral with murderer of two policemen
- Cyclist Kieran aims to revisit route of horror accident in Spain
- Speedy boob job clinics told off by Medicine Board
- Lord Chief Justice to rule if the life of Lennox the dog will be spared
They forgot to mention that they also carried out DNA swab tests!! What is the world coming to?
Posted by don quijote | 19.04.09, 17:05 GMT
Ahem .... don't you think you're going a bit far with all the human rights and innocent until proven guilty?
These men aren't being sacked, jailed or flogged, they're being told to take a test.
I'd say it'd give an indication that someone/something needs further investigation and that's all and I'm pretty sure with all the employment law there is around that that's precisely what it'll be used for.
Posted by sheila | 18.04.09, 16:40 GMT
The problem is where does it stop? Where has the right to due process and the presumption of innocence gone? Perhaps the screening process for employing staff should be re-examined as by their indirect admission, their recruitment process is inept.
Posted by noah | 17.04.09, 21:25 GMT
Excellent idea and for those who are not being recruited for inside information have nothing to fear whatsoever!!
Posted by Nee-Naw | 17.04.09, 20:36 GMT
Against their human rights?
People are so hung up about their human rights that they don't know what they're talking about!
These people are not employed by a governemnt or local authority. Only a state, goverment or local authority/agency can breach their human rights.
Employees are being asked to ensure that they are honest in their employment.
It also creates a further layer of security for employees who might be put under pressure by criminals. Undergoing these tests will not only help the company it will help the individual employees by making them and their families safer too as the criminals will understand that thier pplans might be discovered and turned over to the police.
Lots of industries are losing jobs, wise up and protect your job!!
Posted by Peadar | 17.04.09, 19:37 GMT
Why don't they give Telegraph staff polygraph tests to see whether they're real journalists or not.
Posted by joanna | 17.04.09, 16:59 GMT
Sheila, I think the presumption of guilt until proven innocent may be the problem.
As lie detectors are not infallible I would have serious concerns over implications of an inaccurate result. They can be beaten and, as it measures how someone's body behaves, can predict a lie where there is none.
Guilt should be proven with evidence not by using a machine where it's findings cannot be admissable in court.
Posted by Ulysses31 | 17.04.09, 15:48 GMT
Sounds fair enough.
Posted by MiHe | 17.04.09, 15:22 GMT
The big problem, Sheila, is that polygraphs basically don't work. Their primary purpose is as a prop to intimidate the subject. William Iacono's 2001 study, published in the Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice, a peer-reviewed journal, concluded that "there is no evidence supporting their validity and ample reason to doubt it. Members of scientific organizations who have the requisite background to evaluate the CQT are overwhelmingly skeptical of the claims made by polygraph proponents." That's why, for example, almost no European jurisdiction allows polygraph results to be used in criminal cases.
Posted by Joe | 17.04.09, 14:25 GMT
I'm a co-founder of AntiPolygraph.org, a non-profit, public interest website dedicated to exposing waste, fraud, and abuse associated with the use of lie detectors. See our free e-book The Lie Behind the Lie Detector for a thorough debunking of polygraphy.
Posted by George Maschke | 17.04.09, 14:16 GMT
I don't see what the problem is here.
Workers are being given a chance to clear their names and pull themselves out of the frame when it comes to the "inside job".
What's the worry if you're innocent?
Posted by sheila | 17.04.09, 13:20 GMT
Polygraph testing needs to be introduced for all security staff and employees handling or working with large amount or cash etc. There are to many robberies that have the hallmarks of inside information.
Posted by stevie | 17.04.09, 11:33 GMT