Hey, George,
I posted my story early this yr re: how, a few yrs back (b4 I knew of this website) I initiated two polys to disprove accusations against me (nothing was ever filed w/the police, there were just accusations), and then how I failed both.
For the first poly I initiated (due to a teenager alleging I groped her), I made the mistake of telling everyone I’d take a poly to disprove the accusation: the false positives severely blemished my reputation, nearly cost me my family, and we landed in divorce court. This event led to another accusation, such that my attorney recommended I initiate a second poly to disprove. Which, it too ended w/false positives (smarter this time, I only discussed initiating this second one w/a few people). My wife never knew of the second poly (--and failure) and ultimately we reconciled, but things will never be the same.
Well, failing the frigging things just bugged me so much, I read your book (read Chap 3&4 multiple times) and went ahead and re-took the two polys a few wks back.
It cost me a bundle... Merry Christmas. Maybe I’m a little off, but man, it was just KILLING me to have those poly failures after I told the truth!
So, a few wks back I went to two different poly operators, one w/10+ yrs poly op exp, the other w/20 yrs, both of whom conduct polys for criminal (incl sex offenders) and domestic cases, and both w/BSCJ degrees.
Both operator conversations included these statements: "there is no trickery" (Really! That was said!), and, "polygraphs are 95% accurate" and, "if you tell the truth, you'll do fine", and blah, blah, blah.
The operators asked me the same relevant Qs as the first times I took polys and... I passed every single reading on both 'tests' with "no deception" indicated. 8) Both said I "easily" passed.
So, this begs the question: if polys are 95% accurate and CMs don’t work… then how could I answer the same questions with the same answers, show "deception" the first times taken, and yet show, "no deception" the second times taken??
To be safe, I used CMs, but neither of these 'experts' w/30+ yrs of collective exp even suspected CMs. And I'd like to add, that, if I DID have something to hide, and HAD a reason to lie, it would have been VERY easy to pass the 'test' w/CMs.
The first poly ‘expert’ used the standard control/relevant Qs methodology.
The second ‘expert’ was different though...
In the first two runs of the test, he mixed relevant Qs with irrelevant Qs, and then on the last run, he put in one control Q. So, I THINK, that on the first two runs, he was measuring my responses of irrelevant Qs to relevant Qs, then on the third run, he asked that ONE control Q. I just held baseline breathing the whole time, then on the one control Q, chngd my breathing and slightly tightened my rectum.
So what do I do w/these results? Nothing. I took these ‘tests’ for myself; others won’t know, as the results are too late in the game to chng what people think. As a friend of mine once said, “Pass a poly? That doesn’t mean anything. Fail it? Hell, that means everything!”. But I feel these “mixed” results give further credence to the UNreliability of a poly... a test that's "95% accurate"! LOL!!
So, a person should NOT take a poly unless s/he understands how polys work… because, if one truly is an HONEST person and discloses all, s/he WILL fail a poly. However, if a person DOES understand how a poly works (i.e., that one HAS to lie on control Qs to pass, or can use simple CMs to pass), then the poly is a useless instrument, because it can easily be dupped/manipulated/deceived.
I realize the FBI and other law enforcement still use polys… how can our Government fall for such crap??
Polys MIGHT be useful as an interrogation tool, but they certainly cannot determine who is telling the truth and who is not.
Thanks for your dedication to the antipolygraph quest.
