This Feb. 13, 2013 photo shows Coopertown, Tenn., Police Chief Shane Sullivan at the Coopertown City Hall. The department was disbanded for several months last year after an officer was recorded using a racial slur to describe a black motorist. Sullivan, hired in Nov. 2012, is counting on using a lie-detector test to keep racists off his tiny police force.COOPERTOWN, Tenn. – A police chief hired to rebuild a tiny Tennessee department dismantled by scandal is using a lie-detector test to keep racists off his force.
Coopertown Police Chief Shane Sullivan took over the department in November, becoming the 11th chief in as many years. He was hired on the heels of a series of police scandals that for a few months left Coopertown with no police at all. Years before that, a mayor was voted out of office after the local prosecutor accused him of racism and running a notorious speed trap.
Law enforcement experts say Sullivan’s polygraph approach is unusual, though some departments use the devices for other purposes during the application process. Others try to root out bias in other ways. One polygraph expert warned that lie detectors can’t accurately predict racism for reasons that include people’s inability to recognize their own racism.
Sullivan said he doubts racists will even apply for the force if they know about the tests.
“I think the polygraph will definitely keep these people from applying,” the 39-year-old chief said.