{"id":282,"date":"2009-03-12T07:09:54","date_gmt":"2009-03-12T11:09:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/?p=282"},"modified":"2019-06-18T00:34:27","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T05:34:27","slug":"baker-dvsa-loses-a-customer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/antipolygraph.org\/blog\/2009\/03\/12\/baker-dvsa-loses-a-customer\/","title":{"rendered":"Baker DVSA Loses a Customer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Dee J. Hall reports<\/a> for the Wisconson State Journal<\/em> that “Dr.” E. Gary Baker, the faux Ph.D. who markets what he styles a “Digital Voice Stress Analyzer” to law enforcement agencies, has lost the Jefferson, Wisconsin Police Department as a customer:<\/p>\n

Jefferson police cancel training on voice-stress analyzer<\/strong>
\nBy DEE J. HALL
\n608-2523-6132
\ndhall@madison.com<\/p>\n

The city of Jefferson Police Department<\/a> has cancelled a training session on how to use a controversial voice-stress analyzer after the Wisconsin State Journal raised questions about the technology and the qualifications of the business owner scheduled to conduct the training.<\/p>\n

Voice-stress analysis is used by some law enforcement agencies in Wisconsin, including the Jefferson County Sheriff\u2019s Office<\/a>, to detect \u201cmicrotremors\u201d in the voice that backers of the technology say indicates speakers are stressed and therefore answering questions deceptively.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf everything has been exhausted in investigative techniques and they have a suspect or someone they want to eliminate as a suspect, it (CVSA) has been used,\u201d Madson said, adding that the technology has prompted confessions from suspects. \u201cThe tool works, as far as I\u2019m concerned.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Detective Sergeant Tim Madson is badly misinformed.<\/strong> The existing peer reviewed research suggests that voice stress analyzers perform at roughly chance levels of accuracy. While these devices might be useful for scaring confessions out of naive and gullible persons, they have no scientific basis and are no more to be relied upon than a colander wired to a photocopier with a sheet of paper saying “He’s Lying” on the glass paten.<\/p>\n

Until 2007, the Wisconsin Department of Justice\u2019s Division of Criminal Investigation also used voice-stress analysis to interrogate suspects, DOJ spokesman Bill Cosh said.<\/p>\n

However, some recent government-backed studies have concluded that the technology isn\u2019t reliable, with one researcher likening the ability of voice-stress analysis to detect deception as no more accurate than \u201cflipping a coin.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jefferson Police Chief Gary Bleecker said Wednesday he decided to cancel the weeklong training session, which had been scheduled for June, after the State Journal raised questions about whether the DVSA works. The newspaper also raised questions about E. Gary Baker, a Cape Canaveral, Fla. businessman who markets the Baker DVSA.<\/p>\n

Baker uses the title \u201cDr.\u201d in his promotional materials. Until 2005, Baker\u2019s Web site said he held \u201cearned degrees of Master of Arts in Religious Counseling and Doctor of Philosophy in Theocentric Business and Ethics from American College of Metaphysical Theology.\u201d<\/p>\n

Since the group AntiPolygraph.org revealed that the American College of Metaphysical Theology of Golden Valley, Minn., sells PhDs for $249 over the Internet, Baker no longer mentions the college on his Web site. But he continues to tout his \u201cdoctor of philosophy\u201d degree on www.bakerdvsa.com.<\/p>\n

Baker declined to talk to the State Journal, saying in an e-mail that his Web site \u201ccontains all information we care to release to non-law enforcement persons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Results of such testing aren\u2019t allowed as evidence in court but are used as a \u201clast-resort\u201d investigative tool, said Detective Sgt. Tim Madson of the Jefferson County Sheriff\u2019s Office, whose department uses Computerized Voice Stress Analysis (CVSA). The cancelled training at the Jefferson Police Department was for a similar but less expensive\u00a0 technology, the Digital Voice Stress Analyzer (DVSA).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

For more about the provenance of E. Gary Baker’s “doctoral degree,” see the discussion thread Baker Digital Voice Stress Analyzer (DVSA)<\/a> on the AntiPolygraph.org message board. It should be noted that the man behind “Computerized Voice Stress Analysis,” Charles Humble, who also operates out of Florida, is also a phony Ph.D., as has been documented by Brian Ross of ABC News:<\/p>\n