I took my polygraph with LAPD last month and passed it.  I lied on the control questions too!!  I read TLBTLD and studied possible control questions for months.  Here is how it went:

First, I smoked tons and tons of marijuana, did LSD, meth, and E back in high school.  I have even sold a few bags of weed in the past.  I smoked marijuana up until February when I decided to give trying to be a cop a try.  I started to exercise and "clean" myself up.  I took the writen test and passed it.  I took the interview and scored a 96 (I have no clue how I pulled that one off)!  I passed the phyical fitness test and turned in the background "book"!  I lied about my drug history by saying I tried marijuana twice and never touched anything else.  I also said I never sold or bought drugs.  I called all the people that the background investigator might contact and told them not to say anything and not to refer him to anyone else except certain people.  I did this so that the BI will not be able to contact anyone that I had not already talked to.  It worked.  He did not find out about my drug history.  Then, came the polygraph.

I wore a nice siut and showed up early.  The polygrapher was very frank and to the point.  He brought me into this little room and had me fill out a questionair about my background.  He then told me how the polygraph worked, just like TLBTLD said he would.  Then, to my suprise, he mentioned Anti-polygraph.org by name and a few other web pages and told me that any attempts to defeat the polygraph will be obvious.  He said that countermeasures give distinct patterns of tracings that would detected by the computer.  I acted stupid and told him I have no idea what countermeasures were.  He then had me sit on this black chair that had a pad of some sort and a red and black wire/cable coming out of it on the cusion.  I even heard a beep come from the computer when I sat on it.  To be honest, it freaked me out.  He then place the two tubes on my chest and abdoman, two finger plates, and the blood pressure cuff.  Once he did this, I began to count my breathing in my head:  one...two (inhale) 3...4 (exhale).  He began the test by asking me :

Are you in the State of California? (Irrelivent)
Yes.

Are you sitting down? (Irrelivent)
Yes

Are you going to attempt to defeat this polygraph? (Relevent)
No--I stayed calm and kept my breathing normal.

Are you worried you will not pass this polygraph?
no
(control)----I did the anal pucker for about 5 seconds and slightly increased the volume of air I was inhaling by using the breath count:1...2...3...(inhale) and 4...5...(exhale) for about 10 seconds.  I also thought to myself "He knows I am using countermeasures and I am going to get caught" thinking that made my heart beat harder out of fear. I then returned to my baseline breath count.

Did you smoke marijuana more than two times? (relevant)
no

Other than what you told me, have you ever lied to a supervisor? (control)
no

Have you ever stolen anything worth more than $200? (relevant)
no

Did you withhold information or did you lie on your background packet? (relevant)
no

Would anyone you know say that you are unfit to be a police officer? (control)
no

Have you, as an adult, ever had sex with a minor? (relevant)
no

Have you ever sold illegal drugs? (relevant)
no

Other than what you told me, have you used any illegal drugs? (relevant)
no

Have you ever struck or used violence against someone you lived with? (relevant)
no

Have you ever driven while intoxicated? (control) I treated this as a relevant question just in case.

He asked me these questions three different times in a different order.  When the test was done he said that there was a problem.  He then asked me the following:  What when through your head when I asked in you ever lied to a supervisor?  I answered him by telling him when he asked the question, I thought ablut the time when I called in sick to work and was not sick.  He said ok and aksed what I was thinking about when he asked me if I was worried about passing the polygraph.  I reponded I am not worried that I will pass but the thought of not passing went through my head.  he then asked me what I thought about when he asked would anyone say you are unfit to be a police officer.  I told him about the woman down the street that does not like me because as a kid, I went into her backyard without her permission to get my baseball.  He then said that he would be back in a moment and took the charts and paperwork out of the room.  

About 10 minutes later, he told me that he did not see any indication of deception and wished me luck with the rest of the hiring process.  I was utterly and totally shocked!  He had to have been kidding!  Well, a few days ago, I got a letter saying I passed my polygraph and was scheduled for my psychological test.  

This goes to show you "non-believers" that the polygraph is beatable.  I used countermeasures and lied my ass off.  Maybe the pad on the seat was not really for catching countermeasures, but the thing did beep when I sat on it.  Who knows.

Now, I know I did an unethical thing.  I did a lot of drugs and even sold some.  I lied to get this job and it is not right.  However, I know I will make a great cop and I will never do drugs again.  It is in my past and I am now going to forget about it.  Thanks to the guys at Anti-Polygraph.Org and thanks to "The Lie Behind the Lie Detector".  I do not know what to tell all you other guys out there that are having polygraph problems.  I would suggest using countermeasures even if you are going to be honest.  However, you need to do them right.  You need to practice them and you need to practice them right.  It takes prefect practice to perform perfectly.  And beating the polygraph is nothing more than the PERFECT PERFORMANCE!!!!!!!!!