Bluffton police may now be forced to take lie detector tests | Beaufort County News

BLUFFTON — Bluffton police can now require employees to take a polygraph test as part of an internal investigation. Refusal to take a polygraph test can lead to termination.

The Lowcountry City Civil Rights Committee added the policy to the police department’s standard procedures during a meeting on July 11. During a presentation by Police Chief Joseph Babkiewicz, no committee member asked a question about the policy.

The policy change followed an investigation into four agency members who were placed on paid administrative leave in May.

Babkiewicz turned the internal investigation over to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office, which completed its investigation in June. Little information about the investigation has been released.

A criminal investigation by the State Law Force Division is ongoing.

Bluffton Police Captain Helen Burke said she understood the procedural change had been reviewed before the investigation. The department fired quartermaster and fleet manager Thomas Rauchfuss in connection with the internal investigation.

Under the new policy, employees can request a polygraph test for themselves with Babkiewicz’s consent. Federal law prohibits the department from releasing test results to criminal investigators without the employee’s consent. Refusing a polygraph test can be viewed as disobeying a direct order from a supervisor.

Burke said anyone who refuses to take a lie detector test could face further disciplinary action, up to and including termination.

Bluffton did not make the policy public until four days after it was passed by the Law Enforcement Committee. City officials said the policy passed during the meeting needed to be redacted. Taylor Smith, attorney for the South Carolina Press Association, said the delay violated the spirit of state open records laws.

Proponents of the lie detector test say the test is an investigative tool that can be used to extract confessions from unwilling respondents. Experts say the use of these tests for internal law enforcement investigations is fairly common in the Palmetto State.

“They’re more of a truth detector,” said Beaufort County Sheriff’s Captain Matthew Averill, who heads the agency’s internal affairs division. “We’ll never call someone a liar or tell them they’re lying. We can tell them that their answers point to someone who was trying to deceive them.”

Polygraphs have a reputation for producing inaccurate results. They are generally not admissible in state court proceedings. Federal law generally prohibits private employers from requiring employees to take polygraph tests. Critics say these instruments are no better than a coin flip at judging deception or truth. But under proper testing conditions, polygraph scores used in internal investigations are 90 percent accurate or better, according to a recent analysis.

Marybeth Mullaney, a Charleston attorney who has represented law enforcement officials in disputes with those agencies, had concerns about Bluffton’s policy.

Polygraphs can be used as a tool of retaliation, she said. Failure to comply with accepted testing and evaluation criteria can have harmful consequences. If officers fail polygraph tests during internal investigations, authorities can report them to the state board of examiners, which could jeopardize their certification and end their careers.

“If agencies require polygraph tests, I believe they should be administered by neutral examiners and not by the agency’s examiner itself because there is an implicit bias,” Mullaney said.

Bluffton does not have any licensed polygraph experts on staff, Burke said. The city has asked the county or outside contractors for help when it uses polygraph testing as part of its hiring process. SLED licenses polygraph experts in South Carolina.

Polygraph tests have been the subject of litigation in Beaufort County. In 2017, former deputy Selena Nelson was fired after an internal investigation found she used profanity in public while in uniform and lied about her language during the investigation. A polygraph test showed Nelson was deceptive during an interview.

Nelson sued the agency and two senior officials in 2018, alleging discrimination, defamation and due process violations, among other things. A federal judge found her case unpersuasive and ultimately granted the agency’s motion for summary judgment. Rather than appeal the judge’s finding, Nelson’s lawyers agreed to a $25,000 settlement in 2021, according to Insurance Reserve Fund and court records.

Beaufort County Sheriff PJ Tanner said the agency preferred that Nelson not receive any money. The Insurance Reserve Fund, which functions like an insurance company for local governments in South Carolina, wanted to push the small payment, he said.