Three Armed Police Force and seven Nepal Police officers have completed a 400-hour Basic Polygraph Examiners Course. The U.S. Embassy offered this training through the Academy of Polygraph Science of Fort Myers, Florida and the Stoelting Company.

Charge D’Affairs John Carwile joined Additional Inspector General Rajendra Singh Bhandari of the Nepal Police and Additional Inspector General Singha B. Shrestha of the Armed Police Force an event to honor the newly trained graduates on Thursday. Four of the ten graduates are women. The U.S. government also donated 11 full polygraph kits and is helping to refurbish modern polygraph interview offices in both organizations.

According to a press release issued byPublic Affairs Section Embassy of The United States, the course was an intensive study program that awarded the ten graduates with internationally accepted polygraph certificates, enabling them to work as professional polygraph examiners. After graduation, a veteran polygraph examiner-and the course instructor- from the United States will mentor the new Nepali examiners for the first several months that they use the polygraph equipment.

The Polygraph is a machine that records changes in physiological characteristics, such as respiration, heartbeat and blood pressure.  The examinations by the Nepal Police will be offered completely on a voluntary basis to assist investigators and, just as in the United States, results of any polygraph examination will not be independently admissible in any criminal court in Nepal.  The Armed Police Force will only use the equipment on a voluntary basis for internal investigations.