Original reporting and commentary about polygraphs, voice stress analyzers, and other purported "lie detectors."
Retired NYPD detective Warren J. Sonne writes for Officer.com in an article titled, “Tremors of the Trade: Investigative Tool or Troublesome Black Magic?” Excerpt: Over the past decade, police departments all over this country have lined up to purchase Voice Stress Analyzers. In a country that has placed restrictive rules of law on the police …
San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer Onell R. Soto reports. (The National Institute for Truth Verification, which markets the Computer Voice Stress Analyzer (CVSA), had earlier admitted in court that their device is not capable of lie detection, but continues to suggest otherwise on its website): The maker of a machine police used while interrogating the …
Eric Hand reports for the Saint Louis Post Dispatch: The urban legend goes like this: Police wire the gullible crook up to a copy machine, put a colander on his head and say the contraption is a lie detector. Intimidated, the crook confesses. Police say the latest lie-detecting gizmo – one that looks for vocal …
North County Times reporter Teri Figueroa reports on a lawsuit involving the National Institute of Truth Verification, which markets the “Computer Voice Stress Analyzer”: SAN DIEGO —- A federal judge ruled Monday that three teenagers initially accused of killing Stephanie Crowe can sue the makers of a voice analyzer test that police used to gauge …
Decatur Daily staff writer Holly Hollman reports on the use of Computer Voice Stress Analysis (CVSA) in Athens, Alabama: ATHENS — Females alleging they had sexual relations with Athens police officers passed portions of a lie detection test, Mayor Dan Williams said. The mayor said the women, former Athens City Jail inmates, took a computer …
Bill Bishop of the Eugene, Oregon Register-Guard reports. Excerpt: The mysterious murder of Cottage Grove resident Anita Cantu Lemmon in March brought sheriff’s investigators to their usual starting point: the next of kin. But this time they had a new investigative tool, a Computer Voice Stress Analyzer, or CVSA. Touted as the next generation lie …
A report about Computer Voice Stress Analysis (CVSA) on the website of Central Ohio television station WBNS (“Tool Catches Fibbing Suspects”) concludes by mentioning that the Special Forces are using CVSA to interrogate suspected terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan. The entire report is reproduced here: More and more police departments in Ohio are turning to …
John Tuohy reports for the Indianapolis Star in an article titled, “Voice analyzers draw praise, flak.” Excerpt: Police departments across Indiana and the country are spending thousands of dollars apiece on a truth verification device that some scientists say doesn’t work. The Computer Voice Stress Analyzer, designed by a former Indianapolis Police Department officer, claims …
Douglas Heingartner reports for the New York Times. Excerpt: IT is a time-honored interrogation tool and a staple of film noir: the lie-detector test that can incriminate or exonerate. But such tests need not involve strapping someone to a machine. In fact, they may not require the subject’s presence – or awareness – at all. …
Geoff Pender reports for the Sun Herald: JACKSON – A bill before the House would more clearly give law enforcement officers permission to use the latest in “lie detector” technology. Many police departments in Mississippi, including Biloxi’s, already use computerized voice stress analysis equipment, instead of the older Polygraph machines, for hiring interviews and questioning …