OTTAWA — So you want to be a Mountie? Be prepared for a polygraph test in which you'll be asked whether you've had sex with animals, the worst thing you've done while drunk, and if you've ever seriously thought about committing suicide.
The RCMP says the candid questionnaire is a crucial tool for screening out people unfit to wear the red serge in the post-9-11 era, when terrorists and other serious criminals are trying to infiltrate the police force.
A newly declassified RCMP assessment of the polygraph program's privacy implications says the force was “not doing a sufficient job” of weeding out unworthy applicants.
“Internal Affairs Branch reports that at any given time 40-50 members are suspended and a majority of these cases are related to criminal activity.”
The Canadian Press obtained a copy of the privacy impact assessment through the Access to Information Act, along with a list of dozens of often highly personal questions put to prospective Mounties.
They cover criminal behaviour of various kinds, involvement with drugs and alcohol, use of firearms and personal associations. Among them:
– Have you ever been involved in a domestic dispute?
– Do you associate with anyone who uses illegal drugs?
– What is the worst thing anyone is going to say you have done to them?
– Have you ever engaged in bestiality?
The Halifax Regional Municipality recently said it was reviewing the way it uses lie detectors to screen applicants for certain jobs, amid public controversy over polygraph queries of a similarly personal nature.
But the Mounties, who quietly introduced polygraph screening of applicants in November of 2005, say the electronic tests help the force keep pace with other Canadian police services that use the technique.
“It is just one tool, but that tool is helping us to ensure that we have the right people coming to our organization,” said Superintendent Glen Siegersma, director of the RCMP's national recruiting program.
“It's important that we gather as much information as we can from individuals that are applying to take on this position of trust with Canadians.”
A polygraph machine records changes in a person's blood pressure and heart rate, revealing stress that indicates – at least in theory – that they fear being caught in a lie.
In April of 2003, the RCMP began assessing the program's privacy dimensions, consulting with the federal privacy commissioner's office in August that year.
“The RCMP has no other valid test available to confirm the truthfulness of an applicant, which speaks to their honesty and integrity,” the assessment says.
It notes some early polygraph exams had been carried out on applicants who lived abroad – circumstances that made the lie-detector test necessary because the Mounties could not conduct in-person field investigations into the person's background.
These initial tests by the force's Truth Verification Section turned up eyebrow-raising disclosures, including the admission of one applicant that he'd used the services of a prostitute at least 100 times, most recently on the day of the RCMP interview.
Another applicant admitted accompanying a friend across the Canada-U.S. border to sell drugs on a number of occasions, says the assessment.
Anne-Marie Hayden, a spokeswoman for the privacy commissioner, said the ombudsman initially had several concerns about the program, including lack of clarity as to its objectives, the general accuracy and reliability of polygraph tests, the scope and intrusiveness of the questions, and who might have access to the test results.
The consultations prompted the RCMP to address the issues and drop questions concerning applicants' sexual fantasies, tenant-landlord disputes, involvement in certain groups and associations, and details of credit history, she said.
“They updated the questionnaire to make it less intrusive.”
Staff Sergeant Bob Meredith, an official representative for rank-and-file Mounties in dealings with management, said there's a fine line as to what constitutes an appropriate question.
“I think that any employer that's going down that road's got to be careful what they're asking so that they're not infringing on people's rights.”
Superintendent Siegersma said it's too early to tell whether the polygraph tests are effectively reducing the number of Mounties suspended from duty due to criminal activity.
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