HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda Report - April 5, 1995 (102)CITY OF LODI COUNCIL COMMUNICATION
AGENDA TITLE: Purchase of a Computer Voice Stress Analyzer and
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Training for Five Police Officers as Certified
Examiners.
MEETING DATE: April 5, 1995
PREPARED BY: Larry D. Hansen, Chief of Police
RECOMMENDED ACTION: That the City Council approve the purchase of a
Computer Voice Stress Analyzer (CVSA) and
approve the training of five (5) Police Officers
as certified examiners for this instrument.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION: The Lodi Police Department currently
purchases services from several different
vendors -for Polygraph Examinations for truth
verification for a variety of
circumstances. The cost of each polygraph is $125 for pre-employment
and $250 for interviews in matters related to criminal incidents.
Many times the person to be interviewed failed to arrive and no
interview is conducted, but the fee is still charged. A polygraph
examination usually takes approximately two hours to complete, where
the CVSA takes only thirty (30) minutes.
The CVSA is used extensively by Florida Law Enforcement Agencies and
it has been extremely effective. The Sacramento County Sheriff's
Office has been using two CVSA instruments for approximately two
years and feel it is more reliable and cost effective than the
polygraph examination. They are purchasing three additional units
and will train three more Certified Examiners. There are several
other agencies including Stockton, Contra Costa County and several
other Southern California agencies that have expressed an interest in
purchasing this equipment.
Since July 1, 1994 the City of Lodi used polygraph services on 19
occasions, at a cost of $2,261.25. It is anticipated we will exceed
the cost of the instrument and training during the first two years of
service. The Police Department has a long range goal of 100 Reserve
Officers by the year 2005. Since the requirements for Reserve Officer
parallel that of a regular officer, finding qualified applicants is
difficult. It is our past experience we will accept less than five
per 100 applicants. This instrument would give us the ability to
screen out the unqualified applicants in the initial phases of the
application process at minimal costs, not only saving tax dollars,
APPROVED:__14� I
THOMAS A. PETERSON recycled paper
City Manager -A
CC -1
Purchase of CVSA
April 5, 1995
Page Two
but valuable man hours. The savings of dollars and time would also
be beneficial to other departments, such as Personnel, who may use
truth verification devices as a resource in determining eligibility
of minimum requirements for employment.
Occasionally, in criminal investigations, we suspect the alleged
victim is not telling us the truth about the incident. With the aid
of the CVSA we will be able to verify the truthfulness of the
reporting person, before spending hundreds of hours of investigation
time in matters that later turn out to be either false reports or
unfounded incidents.
The cost of one CVSA instrument and five Certified Examiners is
$12,810. Training is normally conducted in Florida, however, on
April 17 thru 22, 1995, the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department is
coordinating the training at their facility thru the National
Institute of Truth Verification (NITV), thus eliminating the travel
expense and subsistence for our employees.
Captain Charles Mauch will be available for discussion on this
proposal.
Key Benefits: Pre-employment interviews
Interviewing Suspects of Crimes
Interviewing Victims of Alleged Crimes
Interviewing Witnesses
Time and Cost Effective
FUNDING: Auto Theft Enhancement Fund, Account 23.1-103.01.
YA" rl"-
Larry Df. Hansen
Chief of Police
Comparative cost of the Computer Voice
Stress Analyzer vs. the polygraph
Computer Voice Stress Anal Computefized pol
_Xzer yg=h
Initial cost of system alone $6,750.00 $15,000.00
Tuition for I student $ 975.00 $3,000.00
Length of trai ing 6 days 8 weeks
Cost of room & board
factored at $70.00 per day $ 420.00 $3,920.00
Salary for student while
in training (U.S. average) $ 769.23 $6,153.84
Number of exams that an
examiner can conduct per day 7 2
Average percent of
inconclusive results
on exams (average) 0% 20%
Can unit analyze audio tapes
for truth verification? Yes No
Do drugs, medical condition,
or age affect testing No Yes
Total cost to purchase I unit
and train I agent $8,914.23 $28,073.84