Glynn County police like computer lie detector test

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Posted 5:19PM on Friday, May 17, 2002

BRUNSWICK - Glynn County police helped crack a murder case with the use of a Computer Voice Stress Analyzer, calling their version of a lie detector test a great investigative tool. Other law enforcement agencies aren't so sure. Glynn County police point to the recent case of William David Tatro, convicted of killing his wife earlier this month, as an example. Sergeant Chip Anderson said Tatro initially told authorities two different versions of what happened to his wife, Yukie Tatro. Anderson said Tatro first told them he didn't know where his wife was, that she driven away in her car. He then agreed to answer questions about her disappearance on the CVSA. Anderson said, ``Mister Tatro changed his story after we confronted him with results of his voice stress test, which showed that he had been deceptive in his statements about her disappearance. That's when he told us that he killed her accidentally.'' Police found Yukie Tatro's decomposed body October fifth, 2000 buried in the front yard garden of the couple's home. Tatro is awaiting sentencing. About 1,200 law enforcement agencies nationwide have the CVSA, including 38 in Georgia and 124 in Florida. Police say the instrument basically is a laptop computer with a specialized program designed to detect, measure and analyze the micro-frequency modulations in a person's voice, which are different when they're lying as opposed to telling the truth. But neither voice stress analysis nor polygraph tests are admissible in court as evidence in Georgia, Florida or federal courts. Some law enforcement agencies, however, refuse to use it, saying the voice stress analyzer just doesn't work. The National Institute for Truth Verification, a West Palm Beach company, is the only manufacturer and distributor of the $9,950 analyzer. It began marketing the instrument in 1988 to local, state and federal law enforcement agencies.