Sex offenders in South Yorkshire made to take lie detector tests

South Yorkshire Police is only a handful of forces to use “polygraph testing” on registered sex offenders and anyone alleged to possess indecent images of children.

The force is now monitoring 1,233 sex offenders across the county - an increase of 110 cases on last year.

Of 146 assessments, two led directly to investigations; one sex offender admitted trying to fool the test and two tests revealed breaches of Sexual Offences Prevention Orders.

A police report for South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings said the use of the lie detector tests were proving effective.

The report read: “South Yorkshire Police is one of the few forces using polygraph testing for the management of all newly convicted or existing registered sex offenders and all suspects being investigated for the possession of indecent images.

“Two dedicated detectives work in the unit and the impact of their work has been considerable.

“In a number of cases, subjects have revealed previously undisclosed contact with children or other vulnerable people, others have revealed offending behaviour - which has resulted in arrest or further investigation whilst other subjects have revealed concerning risk behaviours that required mitigation.”

The report revealed voluntary tests are also conducted on sex offenders being released back in the community to provide reassurances that ‘offenders released into the community are not, as far as is possible to tell, at risk of re-offending’.

High-risk offenders and new referrals to the offenders’ register are subjected to an active risk assessment process.

This allows officers ‘to assess risk based on current circumstances and not historic risk levels making the assessment more meaningful and accurate’.