The question about whether you ever stole from an employer was a probable-lie "control" question, that is, your polygrapher secretly expected that your denial would not be completely true. Your admission to having pilfered fries and soft drinks should not be grounds for disqualification.

The question about illegal drug use was a relevant question; if your polygrapher did not directly accuse you of deception with regard to this question, but only described it as an "area of concern," then this is cause for some optimism that you passed the "test." But until you receive official notification of the results, it is not possible to know for certain what the outcome will be.

If you download The Lie Behind the Lie Detector and turn to Chapter 3, you will find the polygraph procedure described in detail.

Good luck, and please let us know how things turn out.

Hi it seems to me that u know what to do, so i would like if you could plz help me out

I have already taken 1 polygraph test to become a miami,florida police officer and out of all the questions i had 2 that he said where area of concern

1) did u ever steal from your employer
2) have you ever used any illegal drugs

for the first one, i at first wrote no on this question sheet, but when he interviewed me, he said any little thing shows up, so then i told him yes i have, but only fries and soda when i used to work at mcdonalds and burger king, he asked if i take anything from my current job at publixs and i said no, for the secound question i marked no, which i never done, but when he did the poly test he said that a area of concern, i told him that the only thing i have done was almost smoke a cigarret, i know it sounds stupid. does this mean i failed the test??? if i did, what exactly can i do in order to pass, plz tell me what to do George W. Maschke