Dear George,

I have been visiting this site for a couple of months now. I originally ran into the site through word of mouth while discussing polygraph experiences with co-workers. I find your site very informative and I wish you luck in abolishing the polygraph. It is merely an interrogation tool that allows unethical polygraphers to arbitrarily accuse people of dishonesty often times because of a persons attitude, appearance or a mere "hunch" on the part of the examiner.

I am a 7 year Police Officer,  I have worked for 2 departments, I am a Defensive Tactics Instructor and Firearms Instructor. I am thankful every day that I have been given the opportunity to work in this field. I was afraid when I began the process, in 1995, that I would be DQ'd for violating the "Drug/Substance Use" policy of the department. I was well outside the timeframe for use of marijuana (5 years) but I had exceeded the number of uses (20 times or less). I could not recall the number of times I had used marijuana, but between the ages of 17 and 20 I knew I had used it more than 20 times. I had no other violations or criminal conduct that result in being DQ'd, so I decided to give it a try. During my process, I had several friends from high school that also applied with local PDs shortly before I did. These gentlemen were, to my knowledge, not guilty of anything too horrible in their backgrounds that would have removed from the eligibility. Nothing aside from some high school pot use and maybe some underage drinking, but nothing "serious". All 4 of these individuals were DQ'd after the polygraphs. This made me very nervous and I considered withdrawing from consideration as my polygraph was going to be within the next 30 days.

However, before I took my first poly I had the incredible luck of running into a friend of the family from years past who was a former Police Officer and had become a PI and a poly examiner. I began to explain to him my dilemma and boy did he open my eyes! He was VERY honest with me about the machine's flaws as well as the prospect of unethical examiners and even took me to his office to further acquaint me with the machine. He explained control, relevant, irrelevant questions, etc. We even conducted a couple of mock exams.

I took my first "official" poly about 3 weeks later and totally blew it away. I  started out with a smaller department (about 80 officers) to get my foot in the door and about a year later applied with a large municipal department (about 3400 officers) and the Highway Patrol in my state. After processes with both agencies, which included polygraphs, I was offered a position with both but elected to work for the city as the Highway Patrol wanted to relocate me about 250 away from my home. Both of these agencies had guidelines similar to the original department I worked for. Yes, when it boils down to it, I LIED. However, I decided to do so KNOWING I would make an outstanding officer and also KNOWING I would serve my community with integrity and honesty. I was not about to let a couple bad decisions I made when I was "young and dumb" stop me from pursuing my goals.

To date I have received several letters of commendation, made countless arrests, gotten many of society's undesireables off the street and have served my community and profession with pride and integrity. To think this all may never have happened if, like so many others, I had walked into the examiner's office as his or her pigeon and spilled my guts, only to be told "no" is almost sickening to me.

I would encourage anyone who is considering a pre-employment polygraph to educate themselves, so as not to become a poly examiners "victim". The polygraph is NOT accurate and should be trashed as a pre-employment screening tool.

Good luck all!

Keep up the good work George!

PK