The Ashland Nine ought to start their own semi-pro baseball team. They not only have the right numbers to field a team, they are united and have consistently stuck to their game strategy, which they have down pat. Deny, deny, and deny.
And refuse. To take part in a polygraph examination, that is, requested by the Department. Nine denials, and nine refusals. Of course, as a consequence of this, the Ashland Nine have now been suspended without pay, on the grounds of insubordination.
I find this to be an abhorent reaction on the part of the Ahland Police Department. After all, in a court of law, you cannot force a crimninal defendant-nor a suspect-to take a polygraph examination. In the event they do agree to take one, it can be used as an investigative aid only, and regardless of the results is inadmissable in a court of law as evidence either of guilt or of innocence.
This is only in part because it is against the Constitutions guarantees against self-incrimination according to the Fifth Amendment. It is also, just as importantly perhaps, because poygraphs are notoriously unreliable.
I always considered it a travesty that businesses and government agencies were allowed to get away with polygraphing employees and applicants, precisely due to both reasons. It's intrusive. It's anti-American. It's just flat out wrong.
It's also worth noting that this subject of a polygraph came up mainly because the accusser in the case took her own polygraph examination, which reportedly showed her to ber truthful. Yet, this test was conducted by a former FBI agent, a professional polygrapher, who was hired by the woman's attorney. But would she garner the same results were she to be polygraphed by an independant agency?
The Ashland Police Department should be held to the same high standards prosecutors are suppossedly held to in criminal cases. If the Ashland Nine are guilty of the charges of sexual misconduct with which they have been charged by this one female complainant, while on duty, it shold be easy enough to prove it without resorting to this infringement on the civil liberties which these nine uniformed police officers have to an equal extent as their accusser, and anyone else.
On the other hand, if the charges can't be otherwise proven, there's more than a small chance it's because there's no "there" there.
