anythingformoney wrote on Feb 27
th, 2005 at 6:50pm:
Well, I'm glad you said it makes "little difference" whether the polygraph result is inconclusive or outright failure, George. That simply illustrates what I've been saying all along--it takes a lot to jump the chasm between inconclusive results and deceptive results.
I don't see how my point that it makes little difference
to the applicant who is disqualified based on polygraph results whether or not his/her polygraph charts were scored as "deception indicated" or "inconclusive" in any way "llustrates" your claim that it "takes a lot to jump the chasm between inconclusive results and deceptive results." Please explain.
Quote:I personally don't know any departments or agencies that would disqualify someone solely on the basis of an inconclusive polygraph result. An inconclusive result means nothing to a polygrapher--it's not a yay or a nay with regard to truthfulness or deceptiveness. In fact, many departments and agencies, when faced with an inconclusive polygraph result go to a tier 2 polygraph exam in an attempt to clear up the inconclusive, which almost always either pushes the examinee to pass the exam or simply leads to another inconclusive, after which no further testing is done.
For such agencies as the FBI,
passing the polygraph is a pre-requisite for employment. Failure to pass is grounds for disqualification. And again, the failure-to-pass ratio for FBI special agent applicants is presently on the order of 50%. This flies in the face of your oft-repeated assertion that "the overwhelming majority of examinees [for law enforcement hiring] easily pass the polygraph."
Quote:Again, I REPEAT, it takes a lot to outright FAIL a polygraph exam. Don't equate inconclusive results with failure on the part of the examinee. On the contrary, I would call inconclusive results a failure on the part of the examiner to produce conclusive results.
I offer, as I did in another thread, that all it takes for a truthful person to wrongly "fail" is for him/her to be more concerned about the consequences of not being believed with regard to the relevant questions than he/she is with regard to the more general and less serious "control" questions.
Quote:Any department or agency that would disqualify any applicant based solely on an inconclusive polygraph exam--or EVEN A DECEPTIVE RESULT--is putting too much emphasis on the polygraph.
I fully agree with your assessment that any department or agency that would disqualify an applicant based solely on an inconclusive or even a "deceptive" result is putting too much emphasis on the polygraph. Yet such reliance on the polygraph seems to be the rule rather than the exception amongst agencies with pre-employment polygraph programs. It is most certainly the rule with regard to such federal agencies.
Quote:The polygraph is very good at what it was designed to do, regardless of what your regurgitated views are, George.
I could agree with you that the polygraph has utility as an interrogational prop (with examinees who don't understand that it's a fraud), but as a scientific test for deception it falls flat. On this point there is broad consensus amongst scientists.
Quote:However, the polygraph should never be more than just one piece of the screening process.
The fact of the matter is that many applicants for federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies are being disqualified based on polygraph results alone.
Quote:Trust me when I say that I know of many, many applicants whose polygraph exams ended with inconclusive results who are on the job with their chosen departments and agencies today.
Your history of
forging posts on this message board makes it difficult to take your word at face value.
Quote:I don't know what your situation was, George. Did you outright FAIL your exam, or was it inconclusive? That would say a lot about your situation and possibly provide further evidence of what my suspicions are with regard to failed polygraph examinees.
As I noted in my public statement,
"Too Hot of a Potato: A Citizen Soldier's Encounter With the Polygraph," my FBI HQ file states that I "failed"
all of the relevant questions.