DO NOT let one failed poly stop you from achieving your goal. I know several cops who have failed a poly at one dept. and passed at others. Do your homework on how they work and you will realize the examiner is the key to passing (pre-test and post-test). 

I would also suggest changing your course of study in college. Because 1) You will have another career to fall back on if you don't like law enforcement or don't achieve your goal of being a cop and  2) you will learn in the academy what they want you to learn.  Good luck!

One thing you can do now is to submit a polite letter contesting the polygrapher's accusation of deception and affirming that you told the truth.

The sheriff's office's reliance on polygraph results to assess the honesty and integrity of applicants is indeed unfair: polygraph screening has no more scientific basis than its sister pseudosciences, phrenology and graphology. Worse still, it has an inherent bias against truth-tellers. Many truthful law enforcement applicants end up being falsely branded as liars and wrongly disqualified. See The Lie Behind the Lie Detector (1 mb PDF) for more on how polygraphy "works" (and doesn't) as well as how to pass a polygraph examination.

On a side note, while I don't necessarily suggest that you change your career goals on the basis of this experience, you might, as Jeffery suggests, want to consider the option of changing your major to something other than criminal justice so that more doors will be open to you upon graduation. A criminal justice degree won't necessarily give you an advantage in law enforcement hiring (compared to other majors), and may not be very useful outside of law enforcement.

Sorry to hear about your experience.  Now that you have first hand experience with Law Enforcement, are you sure you still want to work in that field?  You are young enough to change direction in life.  I'd switch to a different degree program in collegel and get new dreams of a new career.

I know how tough it is to have your dreams shattered.  At least you learned that sooner rather than later.   

You can certainly try and appeal this, but you must first ask yourself if you want to work with people like that detective and captain if you indeed win the appeal.  And yes, there are a few good cops out there.

**alot to read, but I hope this helps me**


Hello,
My name is Kurt, I am 19 years old, and going to the College of Southern Maryland getting my Criminal Justice agree. I have been interested in law enforcement for what seems like my whole life. I am even an explorer with my Sheriffs Office.
My Story:
I applied for cadet for my Sheriffs Office, which I have to meet the same requirements as a police officer. I started in March of 2004, and have been going through the long process ever since. I have passed everything with my application till it came to the last step the polygraph.
I took my first test, and acording to the Detective he did not believe I was telling the truth to him. So he indicated in my results that I was being deceptive. He maintained that I was being decetive on drug use and stealing. I also found out that he quoted me on some statements I never said. Such as; I attended numerous college parties where drugs and alcohol was involved. I never said that, I said I had been to acouple and there was alohol there. So the Captain recomended me for another test.
During my 2nd test this detective was much more nicer and easier to work with. I answered all the questions in the packet and then took the test. My results for this test also came up deceptive, but he kept stressing that I was being deceptive on the sexual question. He said there has to be something, I said I have nothing to hide the only thing that I could even thing of that would bother me was because of my religious beliefs, because I had sex before marriage. He said you could have told me that before the test. I told him i never thought it was that big of a deal. So well we talked about it and I thought everything was resolved. He told me the test results would indicate deception, but he would have my recomendation to be hired, so i thought things were resolved. 
After calling Human resources they said my file was under review. After about 3-4 weeks of reviewing, I e-mailed my captain, he replied and said he would be happy to discuss my application. We talked over the phone and he basically said look we need this polygraph to be sorted out, we need  to know why things turned out the way they did, do we can move past this. He told me to call back the detective and discuss it with him.
I called him back we talked on the phone for awhile, he said is there is anything that you need to tell me, etc. I said I told you the truth, and it almost is like you all want me to say there is something even though there is not. He said we are at a stalemate, not many people get a 2nd chance or even a phone call to discuss this, I told him I understand and thank them for it. But he basicaly just said if there is nothing for me to tell them why it came up deceptive, we are at a stalemate, and perhaps I should look at other agencies.
So as of today this is where I stand, i don't know what to do, and where this will take me. This is really depressing for me, as well as unfair, cause I thought I had that job, till the phone call today. What can I do, or what is going on here with the agency. This is something I have been looking forward to my whole life and it is all crashing down on me cause of one test. What I don't understand is how on one test I was being deceptive on drugs and stealing, and on the 2nd test it was unlawful sexual acts. Any help, advice, or information would help. Thank you all so much! Kurt