Request By:
Mr. Jim Malone
Staff Writer
Mt. Sterling Advocate
Mt. Sterling, Kentucky 40353
Opinion
Opinion By: Steven L. Beshear, Attorney General; By: Carl Miller, Assistant Attorney General
Your question is: "May the Mayor of a fourth class city legally withhold results of polygraph tests administered to personnel employed by the city police department when a city councilman wants to examine the data?"
We consider your question to be an open records question to be answered under KRS 61.870-61.884. In passing, we will note that the results of polygraph tests have not been considered sufficiently reliable to be admitted as evidence in court. Conley v. Commonwealth, Ky., 382 S.W.2d 865 (1964); Edwards v. Commonwealth, Ky., 573 S.W.2d 640 (1978).
If a city sees fit to request an applicant for employment to take a polygraph test, the applicant takes the test and is employed by the city, the report of the results of the test is a public record subject to public inspection by any person. KRS 61.872. A polygraph test report is a "public record" as defined in KRS 61.870(2).
A city councilman would have the same standing to inspect a public record as any other person. The mayor does not have the authority to countermand the requirements of the Open Records Law.