Dallas officials have concerns over how police officers are hired. That includes not being verify the identity of a candidate during online testing — and worries over third-party companies cashing in on failed polygraph tests.
That’s according to several internal audit reports looking into the department’s hiring process released by the City Auditor’s Office. Those reports looked at the department’s actions from fiscal years 2020 through 2022.
“There were six recommendations directed to the Dallas Police Department,” Audit Manager Rory Galter said during Tuesday’s Public Safety Committee meeting. “One was a high risk rated recommendation and the rest were low risk.”
The audit lists deadlines for implementing the recommendations. The first change is due in September 2024. KERA reached out to the city to see if any of the changes were already in effect.
"The department continues to review all recommendations," Dallas Police Department Public Information Officer Kristin Lowman said in a statement.
The high risk rated recommendation has to do with polygraph testing for potential police hires — and officials worry about possible financial incentives for the company that preforms the tests if a candidate fails. That’s because “no policy exists that clearly redirects secondary tests to a different vendor” if someone fails the first time.
“There's an incentive there to fail applicants because [the company] can generate additional revenues by doing the second test,” Galter said.
Galter also said there really isn’t an appeals process if an applicant does fail. But the main reason for concern is the lack of oversight over the polygraph vendors.
The audit report recommends ensuring an independent second test and establishing a process that clearly defines the appeals process for a candidate.
Police officials said during the meeting that they are training people within the department to administer polygraph tests.
Then if a candidate failed, they will be sent to Dallas Fire Rescue — who operates its own polygraph tests — for a second try.
Another issue that came up is what city officials call application freezes. The Civil Service Department, which manages and oversees the interview process for police candidates, places a 30-day freeze on any applications that contain errors. City officials say this is a way to make sure applicants can fix potential problems.
According to the audit, candidates do not have access to their original applications and “instead, the candidate needs to resubmit a new application.”
“If I was filling out a job application and I had mischecked a box and I had to wait 30 days to reapply, I would not want to work for that organization,” District 12 Council Member Cara Mendelson said during the meeting.
The audit recommends eliminating the policy in order for candidates to make corrections to their applications easily without having to start the process all over again.
The audit also said there may not be a way for the Civil Service Department to actually verify a candidate’s identity while taking an online test. The audit says for the time period being investigated there was no policy that required verifying the tester’s identity.
According to the audit, “this lack of validation may result in false positive test results for candidates, as well as an increased workload” for the department’s personnel division.
The audit recommendations come at a time when Dallas police officials continue to tout decreasing crime numbers — while also asking city officials to support the recruitment of more officers.
Got a tip? Email Nathan Collins at ncollins@kera.org. You can follow Nathan on Twitter @nathannotforyou.
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