BANKERS FACE LIE DETECTOR TESTS; Bosses call in ex-cops to root out the financial crooks.

LIE detectors are being used by credit-crunch hit Midland companies to sniff out criminal employees.

The high-tech new service, run by ex-detectives Andrew Armstrong and Patrick Mulligan, is being snapped up by businesses keen to stamp out corruption and theft.

The former West Midlands Police officers, who own Wolverhampton-based Forensic Vetting Ltd, have been inundated with work from the financial sector, with bosses keen to root out fraudsters like rogue American banker Bernie Madoff.

Polygraph testing monitors a suspect's pulse and blood pressure, and is widely used by law enforcement agencies in the US.

Mr Armstrong said: "Just look at the amount of financial fraud there has been over the last 18 months and it becomes obvious that employers would be very keen to have us in to vet current and prospective employees.

"It was while working on homicide cases in the Caribbean that I discovered how useful and reliable polygraph tests can be.

"I then went to the US and was trained to use them by professionals there and returned to Britain to set up Forensic Vetting Ltd.

"We have worked for many companies across the country and many in the Midlands and we are hoping to do even more commercial work as the business grows."

But last night Simon Davis, from human rights group Privacy International, described the polygraph tests as "outrageous".

He said: "My view is that it is a breach of the Data Protection Act and there is no basis in law for the use of such technology.

"In fact there is overwhelming evidence that the technology can be abused and the findings misrepresented.

"It is total overkill and with all the information available to employers it would be very inadvisable for them to start their relationship with their staff on such a paranoid footing.

Controversy "It assumes guilt, in my mind these companies do not deserve to employ people."

It is not the first time the use of new technology to monitor staff has caused controversy.

Last year we revealed how Midland firms were looking at voice recognition equipment to detect if employees were faking illness.

But Mr Armstrong last night defended his business.

"We are members of the National Polygraph Association, the American Polygraph Association and the British and European Polygraph Association, working to their professional and ethical standards," he said.

"Nobody can ever be forced to take part, they only work if people give their consent, and we would only ever carry one out where the subject has volunteered.

"We are only there to carry out the tests and pass on the information, we have never carried anything through to conviction, although we certainly would if the offence was serious enough.

"There is this idea, mainly from TV and films, that polygraph tests are quick and dramatic and that the subject can somehow be coerced into it.

''That couldn't be further from the truth.

"I would say no interview technique is 100 per cent effective but polygraphs are about 85 to 89 per cent accurate and that is much better than anything else."

[e-mail]

CAPTION(S):

IT'S A FAIR COP: Ex-detectives Patrick Mulligan and Andrew Armstrong aim to weed out financial sharks like rogue banker Bernie Madoff.