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Hello all,
I've shared my experience on the Personal Statements page, but I wanted to expand with more detail here.
I've read nearly every single personal statement and hundreds of message board posts on AP, and I honestly think that I might have had the most unprofessional examiner and worst polygraph experience ever. As you're reading this post, keep in mind that this was not a CBP exam, and I was not applying for a job that would have given me CIA-like access to classified information. Rather, the job that I applied for was a non-sworn, agency support role with the Arizona Department of Public Safety. Why this job even required a polygraph of any sort is beyond me, let alone one of this style.
I've titled this post "Everyday Sadism," based off of a Yelp review written by another individual who was given a polygraph by this company. Like this gentleman said, "everyday sadism" is the most apt description of what transpired during my exam.
The exam was conducted by a company called Northland Investigations, and by the owner of this company, Dan Caputo. I name him because I think it is important that these individuals stand by their behavior, and not be shielded by anonymity.
Anyhow, the experience was extremely bizarre from the moment I step into the exam room. When I first walk into the exam room, I'm holding a cup of coffee, of which I've drunken about a half of. Upon seeing this, Caputo basically jumps out of his seat and goes "Oh, let me take that from you, we don't like when people drink coffee, it changes your physiology." Mind you, along with the pre-exam questionnaire I was sent a list of instructions for the exam, which included things like not drinking alcohol 24 hours before the test, trying to get adequate sleep, not being sick, etc. Nowhere on this form did it say anything about not drinking coffee. So, Caputo was essentially playing mind games from the minute I walk into the exam room. What was also strange (and I promise I'm not saying this to sound petty) was that it appeared Caputo was wearing a shirt that seemed too small for him in an attempt to try and accentuate his biceps. In the first few minutes of the pre-test phase, he proceeds with the typical good cop routine. He thanks me for applying at DPS, because "we need good people like you." He assures me that everybody's violated at least some of the requirements, but in his experience, most people who fail do so because they lie about the frequency of their transgressions. He even tells me that he used to work as a game warden, and even he broke some of the rules. The rest of the introduction was basically right out of TLBTLD, which unfortunately I hadn't read up to this point. He gives me the whole spiel about how the machine detects homeostasis based on your fight or flight response, and how you couldn't control it even if you wanted to, blah blah blah. (I was shocked when I read TLBTLD, because he was basically quoting it verbatim.)
As we moved into the pre-test interview portion of the exam, it became obvious that this would be a harsh interrogation, not an opportunity to "clarify your answers" as is so often (and misleadingly) described in polygraph jargon. As Caputo was looking over the question sheet, he, seemingly off the top of his head, goes "Have you ever like, fondled a girl while she was sleeping?" In hindsight, I'm confident that this was asked to make me uncomfortable and provide him an opportunity to observe my body language, because after asking a few more questions, he, much more seriously this time, goes "Have you ever fondled a girl while she was sleeping?" While I'm sure there's reasons relating to polygraphy that he continued to ask me this, I think the main reason was that he observed my level of discomfort at being asked this question and enjoyed watching me become angry and upset. As someone who has never and would never do something like this, being asked this question multiple times definitely succeeded in making me upset and extremely uncomfortable. Caputo's creepy physical appearance and demeanor certainly did nothing to assuage my feelings of discomfort (I would encourage you to Google this individual for a better idea of what I mean by this.)
Throughout the pre-test portion of the exam, he continued to ask me questions like this, and as one other commenter of his wrote "was obnoxiously demanding of personal details." It seemed like a preferred tactic of his was to ask you how many times you've done something, and if you said something like "a few times," he would start aggressively blasting you with questions like "How many times is a few? Are you sure, you're completely sure? Ok, so there's absolutely no chance it was more than five? And you're completely sure, like absolutely positive?" He did this to me by asking how many times I had visited strip clubs, and I remember thinking "I don't know man, I didn’t write it down." After this rapid-fire round of questions, I believe he asked me whether I had gotten a private dance, and goes "Did she touch your penis?" It is hard to put into writing, but the way he said it was so creepy that it literally made my skin crawl. After this (or it might have been right before,) he gets to a question about child pornography, and goes "have you ever been watching porn and the girl might've been underage?" Shocked at being asked that question, I incredulously respond "I don’t know." I realize now that this was a mistake, but at the time I was so caught off guard that that was the only answer I could muster. Another strange instance during the pre-test interview was when Caputo got to the question asking, "As a juvenile, did you ever have sexual contact with anyone more than two years younger than you?" he told me that sexual contact included "open mouth kissing." Surprised, I revealed that when I was 17, I kissed a girl that was 15. Caputo then responded by very rudely stating "Well are you sure she wasn’t 14?" Needless to say, by the end of the pre-test interview, I was extremely frustrated and upset, and never should have agreed to the in-test phase of the examination while I was in this condition. Caputo had me right where he wanted me.
Anyhow, as the pre-test interview concluded and we moved into the in-test phase of the examination, Caputo did the typical "Is there anything else you want to tell me before the test?" routine and informed me of which questions he was going to be asking me. The test would contain three relevant questions: "Did you lie about or misrepresent anything pertaining to your employment application?" "Have you ever committed or been involved in the commission of a sex crime?" and "Have you ever committed or been involved in the commission of a property crime?" He then handed me two sheets of paper with a list of definitions, and said "When I say sex crime, this is what I mean, when I say property crime, this is what I mean." I know now that the sheets he handed me were either exact copies of CBP's route maps or were very closely modeled after them. As I stated in my Personal Statement, when he was explaining the rules of the in-test phase of the examination, he did so in a way that extremely complex and virtually impossible to understand. After surveying the documents on AntiPolygraph, it is clear that the manner in which he did so was again modeled very closely after CBP's exam. What I still don’t quite understand is that instead of instructing me to lie about something innocuous, he told me to "think about a really embarrassing time in your life and answer no to that question." Along with this question, I believe that there was one other question that I was supposed to lie on, so there would be two questions that you were supposed to lie on, and two that you were supposed to tell the truth on.
The first time I went to answer a question, I responded by verbally stating "no," and Caputo goes "so this happens with about 40% of people who take polygraphs, it looks like you're talking with your gut…" and stated that he was going to administer the silent answer test. Following this, the first time I went to answer a question I did so by nodding my head, and Caputo angrily yells at me "HALF OF THAT MOVEMENT." So, when answering his questions, you could literally nod your head about three inches down for yes, and about three inches to the right for no. I'm 99% sure that this was an orchestrated tactic that he was going to use from the beginning, because a.) I've taken a polygraph before, and never was I told that I "talk with my gut," and needed to respond in this manner b.) I have a naturally low voice, and nobody who knows me would ever say that I "talk with my gut," c.) he orchestrated the silent answer test after asking me *one* question, so it's doubtful he expected CM's d.) I was able to get in touch with another gentleman who was administered a polygraph by Northland Investigations, and he told me that he was instructed to do the same exact thing. In the words of this gentlemen: "I'm at a loss how anyone can consider that stress position to not return negative physiological reactions." Obviously, this was exactly the point, as Caputo loved seeing the disconcerted state I was in.
So now, we're in the in-test phase of the examination, and Caputo starts with his round of questions. During this first round of questions, I'm unable to remember which questions I'm supposed to lie on, and accidentally answer one his questions wrong. When I do this, he again angrily yells at me "YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO ANSWER NO TO THAT QUESTION." I remember wondering why he yelled at me when it was his fault for not explaining the directions clearly, and now I realize that it was all a part of his plan. After re-explaining the directions in a very annoyed manner, Caputo re-starts the exam, and I try my best to recall which questions I'm supposed to lie on, and which questions I'm supposed to tell the truth on. In addition to this, I'm trying to make sure that I don’t move my head more than a few inches to the side, or too quickly. Apparently, I did this a couple of times, and Caputo proceeds to bitterly remind me "HALF OF THAT MOVEMENT." So, I'm sitting there trying to focus on answering his questions correctly, as well as trying my best to refrain from making too large of a movement, when Caputo suddenly yells in my ear "STOP TRYING TO THROW OFF THE MACHINE." He did not provide me with any specifics as to what I was allegedly doing to try to "throw off the machine," and I am highly confident that this was done to make me even more uncomfortable and increase his chances of eliciting a confession. In addition, Caputo reveled in my discomfort, and thoroughly enjoyed the pain he was inflicting onto me.
At this point, I am extremely annoyed, frustrated, and exhausted, and Caputo realizes this and launches into full on interrogation mode. He tells me that something is "on my mind" and proceeds to angrily shove his papers in my face and yell "WELL LOOK AT THIS," "HOW ABOUT THIS," "YOU HAVE TO REMEMBER SOMETHING," "LOOK AT THIS ONE AGAIN." I continue to look at his papers and deny his accusations while he continues to badger me, and I believe he said something like "well let's try this one more time," and hooks me back up to the recording instruments. After asking me I think two questions, he gets up out of his chair, storms over to me, unhooks me from the tubes, and angrily storms out of the room. The manner in which he concluded the exam is without a doubt the most unprofessional and immature action that I have ever witnessed in my entire life, and I want to make it crystal clear that that is not an exaggeration of any kind. I sat there shocked and bewildered at the fact that any adult, or individual associated with law enforcement, would behave in such a manner. Even for the standards of polygraph examiners, this was shameless and unprofessional.
As he is leaving the room, he makes sure to make an extremely petty comment about not forgetting the cup of coffee I mentioned earlier, and sarcastically says "sorry that it cooled." I'm sure he was building up to making that comment the second he saw me walk in with a cup of coffee.
After he storms out of the room, I'm escorted back to the lobby by an HR associate, who can tell that I'm visibly upset. At this point, I know I'm out of the job, but am still stunned by what I had just witnessed.
In the words of Ugadda B "Everyday sadism is the most apt description I can provide of the experience." What I saw in the exam room that day was nothing short of cold-hearted evil. My experience that day made it clear that polygraphy is the instrument used by this individual to inflict pain onto others. The way he enjoyed my discomfort and reveled in my pain traumatizes me to this day, nearly five months after my exam. Since this examination, I've been offered two jobs that would have required polygraphs but have turned them down because of the lingering effects of this experience. Looking back on this day, there are about ten different times that I should have gotten up and walked out the exam room but didn’t because of how much I wanted the job. Of course, I now realize that even if I had been offered the job, it would not have been worth subjecting myself to this kind of mistreatment. What I also realize is that polygraph examiners routinely take advantage of people while they're in a vulnerable state, allowing them to act in a way that no other circumstance would allow them to. If you are in the midst of a polygraph examination and your examiner begins to act this way, allow them to take your job opportunity, but do not allow them to take your dignity and peace of mind.
Last of all, shame on the police departments and government agencies that employ these individuals, and the polygraph organizations that enable this type of behavior. In this specific instance, shame on the Arizona Department of Public Safety, and shame on the American Polygraph Association. I know that having no shame is a prerequisite to being a polygraph examiner, but this is just embarrassing, and cruel.
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