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Senate Judiciary & Rules Committee hears testimony from Kirk Nelson for offender management board appointment
Summary
Kirk Nelson, a retired Pocatello police captain and longtime polygraph examiner, testified remotely before the Senate Judiciary & Rules Committee. The committee took testimony but did not vote; the nomination will appear on a future agenda.
Kirk Nelson, a nominee to the offender management board, testified remotely to the Senate Judiciary & Rules Committee during its first meeting of the legislative session and outlined his law enforcement and polygraph experience. The committee accepted his testimony and did not vote on the appointment; members said the nomination will be placed on the committee's next agenda for consideration.
Nelson told the committee he served 32 years with the Pocatello Police Department, retiring in 2007 as a captain over the detective division, and has operated a polygraph practice since about 1988. "I've got a lot of experience," Nelson said, adding he has conducted “over 15, 16,000 different interviews and exams.” He said most of his work—“primarily 90%”—has been with sexual-offender and drug-court cases.
Nelson described his interviewing approach as neutral and focused on encouraging disclosure. "I pride myself on being neutral," he said. He told senators he seeks to obtain accurate information while avoiding actions that would simply produce new criminal charges: "I don't look at that as being my primary, or objective when I do these." When asked about frequency of testing, Nelson said maintenance polygraph exams for people on probation or parole typically occur twice a year but vary with an individual's status and supervision requirements.
Senator Wintrow said she appreciated Nelson's attention to procedure and best practices. "These are very important appointments that the senate is responsible for confirming and I think that additional information really shows the depth of which you've thought about this and what are some of the best practices," Wintrow told Nelson.
Nelson also addressed juvenile testing, saying examiners must assess a young person's cognitive ability to make informed decisions and take care not to coerce responses. He noted he holds a Department of Juvenile Corrections contract and conducts testing at the St. Anthony Training Center in the eastern part of the state.
The committee did not take a confirmation vote at the hearing. Chairman Lakey said the committee will take up the nomination at a subsequent meeting, where senators will have the opportunity to vote on the appointment.
