Guadalajara -
Mexico's Supreme Judicial Court has authorized the use of lie detector tests as a tool in the ongoing fight against official corruption. But failing one will not automatically mean that government agents who hold sensitive positions can be fired, or will forfeit the chance for promotion in their professional careers.
The ruling came yesterday in an amparo proceeding filed by a former employee of the federal organized crime strike force, the Subprocuraduría de Investigación Especializada en Delincuencia Organizada, or SEIDO.
Former agent Juan Carlos Cruz Valencia was dismissed after a polygraph suggested he might have links to drug traffickers or organized crime. He challenged his firing in court. It's unclear whether Cruz will automatically get his job back as a result of the decision.
The court upheld SEIDO's right to use lie detectors, but said the results alone would generally not be sufficient to terminate employment. Polygraph results are to be used along with periodic employee evaluations, the judges noted.
"Agents of the Public Ministry do not enjoy permanent entitlement to their posts solely by reason of having satisfied the original entrance requirements for the position, coupled with the passage of time. Their jobs are also subject to passing periodic confidence tests and security evaluations. The use of polygraphs for determining the latter violates no fundamental rights, nor does it contravene any due process protections in which employees arguably may be vested."
In curious language suggesting its lack of full confidence in the device, the court said that polygraphs measure only neurophysiological changes in the body, but "in no way are conclusive as to whether such have been produced as the direct result of lying." Expert analysis of the results are necessary to establish that, they emphasized.
The judges said that SEIDO - and by extension similar law enforcement agencies - should also rely upon medical and toxicological reports, physical aptitude tests, psychological evaluations, social histories and interviews with family members and friends to determine if a career service employee will be retained.
A year ago, as Mexico's 2012 presidential campaign loomed on the horizon, the court struck down a law from the state of Chiapas which mandated that all public office seekers submit to polygraphs, drug tests and psychological fitness profiles before their names would be approved for placement on the ballot. The judges ruled that the state statute exceeded the requirements of federal law, and that Chiapas had no right to establish its own requirements. Mexico's high court rejects lie detectors, drug tests, psych profiles for candidates.
Lie detectors and drugs tests were a hot topic during the campaign. When she officially registered as a National Action Party (PAN) candidate on Mar. 17, Josefina Vázquez Mota presented written proof to the press that she had passed both. She demanded that PRI candidate Enrique Peña Nieto and leftist PRD candidate Andrés Manuel López Obrador do the same, to demonstrate that they had no underworld connections. Although both promised to do so, it's unclear whether they ever followed through. In any case, voters gave them a free pass. The men took easy first and second place on election day, leaving the PANista in the dust. Josefina Vázquez Mota registers for prez and tells Mexico, "I'm a clean candidate."
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© MGRR 2013. All rights reserved. This article may be cited or briefly quoted with proper attribution or a hyperlink, but not reproduced without permission.
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