notguilty,

First, welcome to the AntiPolygraph.org message board. I'm sorry to learn of your polygraph experience. It is one that has been shared by many other law enforcement applicants. AntiPolygraph.org's purpose is to expose and end such abuse. 

Your rights to your polygraph records will be governed by your state's public record access laws. (You'll probably find the text of the relevant law on the Web.) Not knowing which state you are in, I and others can't provide much more specific guidance than this. (If you're willing to mention what state you're in, I or others could probably help in tracking down the applicable law/s.)

Whether or not you'll need to hire a lawyer's services, it might be worthwhile to seek a consultation with a local attorney who is experienced in labor law to talk about your legal options. Martindale-Hubbell's Lawyer Locator website is a helpful tool for finding one.

I hope you'll consider working with us toward the abolishment of the pseudoscience of polygraphy. One simple way you can help is simply by telling others about your experience and about AntiPolygraph.org. The survival of polygraphy is completely dependent on public ignorance of how the "test" really "works" (and doesn't).

Another thing you can do is to write to your federal, state, and local elected representatives about polygraphy, specifically requesting that polygraph screening of applicants and employees be abolished. (See the AntiPolygraph.org Get Involved page regarding this.) And, of course, your participation in the public discussion and debate of polygraph issues is most welcome on this message board.

The state was Arizona.

I hope I did not give the impression that I want to get a lawyer involved.  I wasn't treated unprofessionally or rudely.  I am not looking to sue anyone, I only want to know if I have any rights to see how they made their decision.  They said I can re-apply in a year and I want to keep that option open.  I don't want to flag myself as a troublemaker. 

I am mostly curious about what happened as I am not a pervert and don't see why I would have appeared to be deceptive in that regard.  Also, I'm curious as to why I didn't  fail the questions about murder, theft, drug use, etc., since I was equally "deceptive" on those questions.

From what I gather from this site, I see that the control questions must have been the problem.  I was completely honest on them and had no mental reservations what so ever.  On the first test, I wasn't really nervous at all as I saw no issues that would cause me any trouble.  In fact, I was looking forward to the test because I thought it would be fun and felt that it would also show that I was the type of person that they were looking for.  Of course, I wouldn't want to be labelled as any type of criminal, but of all the issues covered, I would least like to be considered a dangerous pervert.  On the second test, I was very nervous the whole time.  By that point, the infalibility of the polygraph had been shattered for me.  I was worried that I would fail again because 1) I had failed the first time and they would look silly if I passed on the second test, or 2) passing was be up to the luck of the draw and I would have no control at all.

Another reason I am so curious about my experience is because they repeatedly told me "the test is not perfect".   They must have used that phrase more than half a dozen times.  No manmade device is, so why would they keep repeating that.  If I heard from an airline that their planes were "not perfect" as many times as I did about the polygraph, I would never fly.  They said that they looked at the results of my second "test" "several different ways", but they just couldn't pass me.  How many ways can poly results be looked at?  I know very little about the poly process, but it seems to me that you pass or you don't.

I would have thought that if they really thought I was a criminal, or even just a liar, they would have quickly shown me the door.  Instead, after it was all over, I had a long friendly talk with my investigator.  He actually encouraged me to apply to another department in the area if I didn't want to wait the year to re-apply with them.

Nothing about my experience seems to make any sense to me.

my question is exactly  the same-what are my rights?
what are my legal rights on test?sure I can refuse to
take it.but when its condition of emloyement  could I
bring an attorney with me?then if I dont like the specific
question could I refuse to answer?Am I aloud to tape,to
video or write down questions?Or what happenes if  I ask
to give me the questions in written not oral form  and
answer them in writing. ???