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.
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Tags: Canadian Police, Committing Suicide, Criminal Behaviour, Domestic Dispute, Drugs And Alcohol, Electronic Tests, Halifax Regional Municipality, Illegal Drugs, Mountie, Mounties, Personal Associations, Personal Nature, Personal Questions, Polygraph Program, Polygraph Test, Privacy Impact Assessment, Privacy Implications, Public Controversy, Red Serge, Sex With Animals
