Police department given green light for lie detector

McMinnville Police Department will receive the voice stress analyzer it requested after the full Board of Mayor and Aldermen approved the measure 4-2 Tuesday night.

The request came before the board after Safety Committee members were told that purchases of $10,000 or more must be sent to the full board for consideration. The cost of the device and training is $12,000.

The voice stress analyzer measures vocal chord vibrations in an attempt to determine if a suspect is being truthful. It’s essentially a lie detector. The results aren’t guaranteed to be accurate and can’t be used in court, although the device can still be a helpful investigative tool.

Before it was sent on to the board, Aldermen Bobby Kirby and Rick Barnes both voiced doubts about the purchase.

‘I’m not saying I won’t approve it,’ said Kirby, who admitted he didn’t know the purchase of the device was in the 2007-2008 budget. ‘I think we should defer this until we have more information.’

The cost of the device and training is about half the cost of a patrol car. Barnes voiced his opinion that the money might be better spent in this way.

Once the request was in front of the full board, the reasons why it was sent to the board were still unclear and the list of those who didn’t know the device had been budgeted grew.

‘I for one wasn’t aware of this line item and it caught me sort of by surprise,’ said Alderman Patti Nunley.

Trying to clear up the confusion, city administrator David Rutherford reminded aldermen they had cut $90,000 out of the police department budget. At that time, the comment was made that McMinnville Police Chief Charlie Sewell could allocate the funds he was given for what he felt the department needed.

In Rutherford’s opinion, city officials didn’t make a mistake by budgeting the item and they should rely on the police chief to make the decisions necessary to run his department and provide public safety.

When the vote came, Aldermen Rick Barnes and Patti Nunley voted against it. Aldermen Donald Hillis, Billy Wood, Jimmy Haley and Bobby Kirby voted for it.

‘I think we should have faith in the chief we hired,’ said Kirby before the vote.