Posted by: grgDai December 4, 2013
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Lie Dectors finally come to Nepal |
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KAMAL PARIYAR More than others, this leaves police investigators helpless as many of the accused, arrested after a great deal of trouble, do not give out the truth so easily. So police officers have to adopt tedious and time-consuming techniques to get at the truth whenever a crime has been committed.  Those days may now be over. Nepal Police are all set to introduce polygraph testing, also known as lie-detecting, to fight crime. The system detects whether a person is lying when answering certain questions, giving investigation officials enough clues about the actual truth of a case. “The system will be implemented with the assistance of the US government, and police officers from various investigating agencies will be placed in different sensitive areas of national security,” said SSP Ganesh KC, spokesperson of Nepal Police. Ten police officers from various investigating agencies have been participating in a training provided by the US-based Academy of Polygraph Science, in Kathmandu since the past four weeks. The program will tackle illicit drugs trade, terrorism, human trafficking, murder, cross-border crime and financial crime, SSP KC said. At present the US government has provided 10 polygraph kits and Nepal Police plan to purchase two more kits in the near future, he informed. “We are happy and excited to participate in this advanced and sophisticated technology being introduced in Nepal for the first time,” participants told Republica. Inspector Dadhiram Neupane, a participant, said, “In the absence of high-tech tools like polygraph testing, investigating agencies in Nepal were having a hard time. But we are now excited about being able to shorten the investigation process and track down heinous crime.” Retired FBI officer James Orr, one of the polygraph instructors involved in the training, said, “The polygraph test is a complex process in terms of examination procedures and the experience of the analysts involved in the testing.” The tests can be carried out effectively if there are experienced hands and in developed countries the rate of accuracy is always high, he added. The challenges are: the analyst has to face different persons having different criminal backgrounds and tackle different circumstances of different crimes, and there is a lack of reinforcing legislation. The participants of the training also suggested that the government should expand the new technology across the country along with the skilled manpower needed, and remove the legal hurdles if any. Spokesperson KC said that the law enforcement agencies have been mulling replacing their traditional tools of investigation. “We are very hopeful about polygraph testing in Nepal as this technology not only minimizes cost and time in investigations but also protects innocent people,” he said. How does lie detector work? When a person undergoes a polygraph test, four to six sensors are attached to him. A polygraph is a machine in which multiple signals from the sensors are recorded on a single strip of moving paper (graph). The sensors record the persons breathing rate, pulse, blood pressure, perspiration and sometimes arm and leg movements. First, three or four simple questions are asked to establish the norm for the person´s signals and then the real questions being tested by the polygraph are asked and the signals recorded on the moving paper. A polygraph examiner can look at the graph and see whether the vital signs changed significantly on any of the questions, and in general a significant change in sensor records indicates that the person is lying. |