New York, NY - NYPD Is Smelling For Liars

New York, NY - They're nearly one dozen newly trained detectives skilled in administering "lie detector" exams - tests given to several hundred witnesses and criminal suspects. Six of the new experts are members of the NYPD Major Case Squad who were trained last fall to become experts in smelling a lie.

NYPD Deputy Chief Jeremiah Quinlan, who heads the Special Investigations Division, said the push to train new NYPD polygraph experts began last July. So far, he said, exam results have been interesting.

"We knew one guy who failed," Quinlan recalled with a laugh, "after he tried to disconnect the machine when the polygraph examiner momentarily left the room."

Polygraphs are administered to "subjects" - people who may later emerge as criminal suspects - or witnesses whose credibility remains in doubt. It can be given only to someone who volunteers to take it - and is never given to sex-crime victims, pregnant women or people with heart conditions.