erhdgs,

First, stop beating yourself up over your first polygraph results.  You told the truth and have nothing to be ashamed of.  Second, you should feel much better from the knowledge that countermeasures do in fact work-I am living proof.  Despite total honesty, I was DQ'd on my Police polygraph. I  successfully disputed the results and was forced to sit for another "exam" which I passed with flying colors by employing countermeasures.

You've already taken a huge step in the right direction by coming to this site and arming yourself with knowledge.  If you haven't already done so, I recommend that you download and read the "Lie Behind the Lie Dectector."  It is imperative that you understand how to distinguish Relevant from Control questions.  Without that understanding, countermeasures are useless.  (You might also consider ordering Doug Williams' manual from: www.polygraph.com.  It costs about $50, and while it has a lot of the same info as the "Lie Behind....", you  can't have too much information on this subject. Most importantly, it gives you direct access to him for your questions.  I used it in addition to the info at this site, and it worked for me.)

In another thread, I remember someone experimenting with a home blood pressure machine to see if countermeasures applied during Control questions affected his BP or not.  He/she reported that they did, and I independently verified it when someone in my family happend to buy one.   Squeezing the anal spinchter muscle does in fact produce a significant change in BP.  I suppose the GSR would help you gauge whether or not your countermeasures are effective, but it is my understanding that GSR is the least important of the measurements used during a polygraph.

The bottom line is that you need to: understand the difference between relevant and control questions; practice your countermeasures; and do whatever it takes to build your confidence.  Believe me, although you will still be nervous, you will feel much better knowing that you are in control.

Thanks for the replies.

I am no longer kicking myself over this, just bitter I guess.  Best as I can tell from what I've read on this board, is the reason for the DI was the very reason they run the poly, to see who's truthful.  I was too truthful.  I wanted this job so badly.  I was given the pre-poly questionaire by mail a month before hand, so had plenty of time to think of anything I ever did.  Even wrote it all down so I wouldn't forget during the pre-poly.

During the pre-poly interview, when he was asking about "lying to anyone in authority" and "have you ever stolen anything from a place of work" (questions I now know to be control questions, and supposed to show a response) I answered as truthfully as my memory allowed.  I didn't have much to come forth with, as I've basically been an honest person all my life, as my pursuit was a career in law enforcement since I was a kid.

It is almost (I said almost) funny to me now, that I remember when he was interviewing regarding the two above control questions, I kept giving answers about everything I could remember.  I remember him appearing frustrated and giving me the "this department frowns on thievery and lieing" speach, especially when I kept going on about teenage misdeeds.  Started shaking his head, and "hmmm" ing all over the place.  But, I was bound and determined to tell the entire truth and pass the poly with flying colors, as I knew I had done nothing that would disqualify me, but that lying about it would.

I am now certain that answering these questions so truthfully is what caused my DI.  Funny that it was these questions that after I got the DI news (and for the past 7 years) I was thinking got me DI'd.  At the time I was very comfortable that I had told the truth on them, but later I wondered if I left something out, and subconciously I knew it?  Until I got the results though, I was very confident there were no problems.  I was relaxed throughout the procedure because I had nothing to hide.  I also had occasion to witness no less than 5 polygraphs as an investigator, so it was nothing new to me, and the poly in and of itself didn't scare me.  If only I had known.

A stim test was done, then the following questions:

1.  Other than what we've discussed, have you ever stolen anything from a place of work? (control)

2.  Other than what we've discussed, have you ever lied to a person in a position of authority? (control)

3.  Have you lied on your application about your qualifications for this job? (relevant?)

4.  Have you ever used, sold, or possessed illegal drugs? (relevant)  My answer was no, never have, other than during the course of my duties in a previous law enforcement position.  Never even smoked a joint.  Why?  I wanted to be a cop.  Laughable.

5.  Have you ever molested a child? (relevant)

6.  Have you committed any felony crime that has gone undetected?  (relevant)

And a couple others I don't remember (name, etc, irrelevant)

This last one he asked me twice, once at the beginning of the test and once at the ending.  Strange I thought at the time.  From what I've read here, I guess they do that for "shock value"?

Also, during the test, he directed I keep my eyes closed throughout the test until he told me to open them.  Don't understand what that was about yet, but it made me pretty  uneasy.

So, that's my story.  Hope someone else benefits from it.  I plan on benefitting from what I've read here.  Next time I'll be informed, and ready.

Funny it took the polygraph and applying for a law enforcement job to make a lier out of me.  Or, is that just tragic?