There has never been a better reason for introducing polygraph examinations in the recruitment process within local authorities than this one. If lie detector tests for prospective council worker candidates were progressed at Kensington and Chelsea Council the chances are they wouldn’t have been at the centre of a scandal last week.
Within days of employing a new Finance Manager, Jenny McDonagh, theft on a grand scale began. Worse, the money stolen was destined for survivors of the Grenfell Tower tragedy.
McDonagh was sentenced to 5½ years imprisonment last week having stolen over £60,000 from credit cards that had been preloaded with cash to assist former residents of the ill-fated tower block.
Prior to going on a spending spree with her Grenfell Tower ill-gotten gains, McDonagh had defrauded the Medway NHS Foundation Trust of £35,000. The Trust had employed her as a Finance Officer.
Polygraph examinations in the recruitment process
We have no idea how the Kensington and Chelsea Council recruits but it defies belief that they didn’t find out about McDonagh’s nefarious activity at Medway. With so much fraud and theft occurring in the workplace nowadays simply checking a person’s CV and qualifications doesn’t cut it any more.
Using polygraph examinations in the recruitment process verifies information that the candidate provides. However, lie detector tests results will also reveal a lot about the character of an applicant when questions are worded correctly.
Signs that things are not quite right
When a corrupt accountant can fritter away so much money on a jet setting lifestyle, as McDonagh did, something needs to be done. What she didn’t spend on holidays and luxuries, ‘shopping till she dropped’, she gambled away. £16,000 spent online gambling is significant of a problem, one which a lie detector test could have identified.
Quite rightly the judge who sentenced her said that she had shocked the nation. This was particularly awful because she stole from people who needed money the most. McDonagh showed no reaction when sentence was passed which might lead people to believe that there is something odd about her character.
Lie detector tests for pre-employment screening
Polygraph examinations in the recruitment process are the norm in many countries when employing government and security staff. We invite Kensington and Chelsea Council to contact us, with a view to discussing how McDonagh scenarios can be avoided in the future.
Lie Detector Test UK provides polygraph services to a wide range of public and private organisations and individuals. The mission of our highly qualified and accredited examiners is to reveal truth and deter deception from occurring. We work in a broad spectrum of industries where pre-employment screening utilising lie detector tests is the norm rather than the exception.
