Intercept/Ed Gelb in LA--any experience?

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Intercept/Ed Gelb in LA--any experience?
Jan 17^th, 2003 at 4:05am

Scheduled to take a pre-employment poly with Intercept, Inc. in Los Angeles (http://www.polygraphexpert.com/index.html - how do you like that URL?), run by Ed Gelb himself.

Anyone been to this location and have any stories? What method do they use? (I'd suspect the Backster method.) Does Gelb do the tests himself, or does someone else? What's the office like--nice or shabby? How's the parking? I'll be sure to tell my story after I take the test.

For some interesting stuff on Gelb, see http://gemart.8m.com/ramsey/polygraph/

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George W. Maschke

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Re: Intercept/Ed Gelb in LA--any experience?
Reply #1 - Jan 17^th, 2003 at 9:41am

I have never been in Ed Gelb's polygraph suite, but considering his address (4201 Wilshire), my guess is that it ain't shabby. David Lykken notes in the 2nd edition of A Tremor in the Blood that when he visited Gelb in 1980, he "lived up in the Hollywood hills whence he commuted to his office in his new Jaguar roadster."

The second link you provided notes:
Quote:

Supposedly Gelb's resume states that he received his doctorate degree from LaSalle University in Louisiana. That would be a real problem, because LaSalle was found to be nothing but a mail-order diploma mill. LaSalle's office was investigated and raided by the FBI, and Thomas Kirk, LaSalle's owner and founder, was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to five years in federal prison. Kirk earned millions of dollars from people looking to obtain fraudulent college degrees at a discount rate with little or no actual course work required.
Calls to Gelb's office by people trying to verify his education were not returned, and one internet sleuth even went as far as to check the master registry of Ph.D. dissertations and could find no information on a doctorate thesis authored by Edward Gelb.
Should "Doctor" Gelb really be addressed as "Dr. Bogus"? Is the man who claims to be the master at detecting the deception of others really a master of public and profession deception himself? Perhaps when Ed Gelb hears about this web page he will contact us and provide proof of his educational background so we can publish the truth here.

It would be quite a scandal if it turned out that a past president of the American Polygraph Association got his degree from a mail-order diploma mill. Can anyone verify this?

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« Last Edit: Jan 17^th, 2003 at 10:03am by George W. Maschke »

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beech trees

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Re: Intercept/Ed Gelb in LA--any experience?
Reply #2 - Jan 17^th, 2003 at 7:10pm

George W. Maschke wrote on Jan 17^th, 2003 at 9:41am:

I have never been in Ed Gelb's polygraph suite, but considering his address (4201 Wilshire), my guess is that it ain't shabby. David Lykken notes in the 2nd edition of A Tremor in the Blood that when he visited Gelb in 1980, he "lived up in the Hollywood hills whence he commuted to his office in his new Jaguar roadster."

The second link you provided notes:

It would be quite a scandal if it turned out that a past president of the American Polygraph Association got his degree from a mail-order diploma mill. Can anyone verify this?

If Dr. Gelb has testified at trial as an expert witness then certainly his CV is a matter of public record.

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Re: Intercept/Ed Gelb in LA--any experience?
Reply #3 - Jan 17^th, 2003 at 10:35pm

A little something I found at http://216.239.37.100/search?q=cache:A4uFHeqP6LwC:www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/...
e=UTF-8

Quote:

Dr. Gelb is one of the foremost polygraph examiners in the country, possibly even the world. He's more than just an expert in polygraph examinations. Some of his qualifications include:

Bachelor's degree in Political Science, U.C.L.A....
Master's degree in Psychology, LaSalle University...
Doctorate in Psychology, LaSalle University...
He is the past President, Executive Director and Chairman of the Board of the American Polygraph Association...
He was a detective and lieutenant with the Los Angeles Police Department...
He is a current Adjunct Professor of Psychology at LaSalle University.

Dr. Gelb utilizes the state-of-the-art computerized Axciton to conduct forensic polygraph examinations. In addition to the above qualifications, Dr. Gelb has conducted over 30,000 polygraph examinations since 1969, with specific criminal incident examinations conducted for Fortune 500 companies, criminal defense attorneys, and governmental agencies, and 400 polygraph examinations conducted for the Los Angeles Superior Court to effect settlement of two class action suits.

Dr. Gelb is one of the few experts whose testimony is accepted by the Los Angeles Police Commission. He is presently conducting examinations for at least 100 defense attorneys as well as District Attorney offices and police agencies.

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George W. Maschke

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Re: Intercept/Ed Gelb in LA--any experience?
Reply #4 - Jan 17^th, 2003 at 11:16pm

The LaSalle University that conferred a doctoral degree on Ed Gelb is not necessarily the diploma mill created by convicted felon Thomas James Kirk (aka Thomas McPherson). There is also a LaSalle University in Philadelphia that is affiliated with the Catholic church and has a doctoral program in clinical psychology.

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« Last Edit: Jan 17^th, 2003 at 11:44pm by George W. Maschke »

George W. Maschke
E-mail: maschke@antipolygraph.org
Twitter: georgemaschke
Tel/SMS: 1-424-835-1225
Personal Statement: "Too Hot of a Potato"

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beech trees Especially Senior User Offline Posts: 593 Gender:	Re: Intercept/Ed Gelb in LA--any experience? Reply #5 - Jan 18^th, 2003 at 12:41am Sadly, LaSalle University's Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology was only created several years ago, with the first PhD's of any kind at LaSalle being awarded last year. There are no other Doctoral programs at LaSalle. Dave
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Skeptic

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Re: Intercept/Ed Gelb in LA--any experience?
Reply #6 - Jan 18^th, 2003 at 1:29am

beech trees wrote on Jan 18^th, 2003 at 12:41am:

Sadly, LaSalle University's Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology was only created several years ago, with the first PhD's of any kind at Lasalle being awarded last year.

There are no other Doctoral programs at LaSalle.

Dave

Although I'm sure there are polygraphers with genuine degrees out there, this guy was a president of the APA and highly acclaimed as "more than a world-class polygraph expert". I have to admit, things aren't looking too good for the polygraph community these days.

My last NSA polygrapher implied that he had a Master's degree in psychology (though he didn't say from where, and he didn't say he had actually obtained the degree -- only that he had been "working on his degree" at one time).

In my undergraduate psychology work, I learned things that specifically called into question ideas upon which the polygraph supposedly depends. I am therefore very suspicious of any claims of genuine, respectable psychology backgrounds on the part of polygraphers. This revelation about "Dr." Gelb, sadly, doesn't surprise me in the least.

Skeptic

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Re: Intercept/Ed Gelb in LA--any experience?
Reply #7 - Jan 18^th, 2003 at 2:39am

Quote:

The LaSalle University that conferred a doctoral degree on Ed Gelb is not necessarily the diploma mill created by convicted felon Thomas James Kirk (aka Thomas McPherson). There is also a LaSalle University in Philadelphia that is affiliated with the Catholic church and has a doctoral program in clinical psychology.

If I'm lucky enough to see a diploma, and the state happens to be Louisiana, that will go a long way toward easing my mind...

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beech trees Especially Senior User Offline Posts: 593 Gender:	Re: Intercept/Ed Gelb in LA--any experience? Reply #8 - Jan 18^th, 2003 at 2:48am He isn't listed as an Adjunct Professor at the LaSalle University noted above.... anyone care to lay odds that his Masters was 'earned' at the Diplomas-r-Us as well?
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Just Wondering

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Re: Intercept/Ed Gelb in LA--any experience?
Reply #9 - Jan 19^th, 2003 at 7:11pm

Quote:

Dr. Gelb has conducted over 30,000 polygraph examinations since 1969, with specific criminal incident examinations conducted for Fortune 500 companies, criminal defense attorneys, and governmental agencies, and 400 polygraph examinations conducted for the Los Angeles Superior Court to effect settlement of two class action suits.

“Dr” Gelb is a super man, 30,000 exams since 1969. Hum, 33 yrs, 52 weeks in a year, 365 days in a year, factor out the weekends (104 days), that leaves (give or take) 261 days a year to work. But wait… take out two weeks of vacation, just the work days (10) = 251. Now lets take out say 6 holidays = 245 day at work per year (roughly)

So lets do some math, 30,000 career exams divided by 33 years = 909.09 polygraph exams a year. 909.09 exams a year divided by 245 work days a year = 3.71 polygraph exams a day (give or take).

This guy is a true work-coholic! ???

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Re: Intercept/Ed Gelb in LA--any experience?
Reply #10 - Jan 19^th, 2003 at 7:25pm

Dear Nobody,

Food for thought:
Quote:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/7615/burke.html
This is not the first time Ed Gelb has been in the spotlight. He was called in after Travis Walton claimed he was abducted by space aliens and kept for five days aboard their spaceship before being returned to Earth. There were five friends with him that claim that they saw Travis as he was being beamed aboard an alien craft. Ed Gelb gave polygraphs to each of the five witnesses and gave them a clean bill of health. He stated that each of the tests demonstrated that each witness was being conclusively "truthful." Gelb, then declared that the statistical odds of five people "beating the machine" was about one in a million. Later, polygraph expert John J. McCarthy gave Travis Walton a polygraph examination and determined that Travis was deceptive with his responses.
This is not the only time that Ed Gelb has verified an alien abduction. He had a TV show called "lie detector" with co-host F. Lee Bailey in which he had the opportunity to test Betty Hill. Betty and Barney Hill are the famous couple that claim to have been abducted by space aliens. They say that they were given a physical examination by these aliens while aboard the space ship. After a polygraph examination by Gelb, Betty Hill was declared to have given truthful responses to Gelb's questions.

I'm not sure a 100 degrees on the wall would make me feel good with this guy!

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Batman

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Re: Intercept/Ed Gelb in LA--any experience?
Reply #11 - Jan 20^th, 2003 at 12:57am

Gotta add my pennies to this one. Every time I hear Mr. Gelb touted as the foremost expert on polygraph I cringe. Here is a guy who got on national TV with The former LA prosecutor, Ms Clark, and polygraphed Capt. Lou Albano to determine if professional wrestling was real. Personally I think he is an embarrassment to polygraph at any level, regardless of his highly touted credentials and background.

By the way, he did get the call right on the wrestling issue, it's fake, but he couldn't get the Capt. to confess!

Batman

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Re: Intercept/Ed Gelb in LA--any experience?
Reply #12 - Jan 20^th, 2003 at 1:54am

Batman,

Do you know what the truth is regarding the matter of Gelb's academic credentials? I guess you have pretty much indicated what your opinion of him is. That being the case, why do you suppose he was elected by your community (polygraph) as president of the American Polygraph Association (if you belong and know)?

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Batman

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Re: Intercept/Ed Gelb in LA--any experience?
Reply #13 - Jan 20^th, 2003 at 12:51pm

I can not speak to Mr. Gelb's academic credentials. I would venture to say he would be the best source for that information.

As for why he was elected as president of the APA by "my community", I can only offer that Bill Clinton was elected president of the US by "my community" (in a larger sense), and I didn't agree with that one either. You would have to poll the APA members who voted in that particular election to get an accurate accounting as to why Mr. Gelb was elected president.

Batman

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Anonymous Guest	Re: Intercept/Ed Gelb in LA--any experience? Reply #14 - Jan 20^th, 2003 at 8:03pm Batman, What you say is true. It is also accurate to say that whatever you believe Bill Clinton's shortcomings to be/have been, I suspect that you would not include phony academic degrees and a general lack of education. I believe, amongst other things, we can agree he was in fact a Rhode's Scholar.
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