Hi, I have applied to be a police officer for a city and had a few questions. I have just had my background check cleared and I'm waiting to be scheduled for the polygraph examination. I have been trying to become a police officer for six years and now I'm almost there. 

I'm not sure if any of this will matter but, I work for a retail company as an Investigator. I have taken several classes for retail Interview and Interrogation and Interpretations of behaviors. I have taken a class and read several documents on polygraph interview and interrogation techniques including this manual. I have been to other investigator classes to deal with deception methods. I have been in this line of work and training for over five years.

My biggest question is will my knowledge and experience in deception methods and polygraphs effect my outcome of taking a polygraph test?
Should I apply countermeasures? 
If so, should I practice these before I go and how much practice is required?
How would you suggest I practice?
Will applying countermeasures risk my chances of not passing at all?
If I must lie to a question is there anything different I need to do? (besides the countermeasures)
If I fail is it worth it to fight the decision?
Is the VSA test the same as a poly?
Does it matter if the polygraph is computerized or analog?
When asked about what I know about the polygraph, what should I do and say?
 
Any information you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

LPInvestigator wrote on Apr 22^nd, 2006 at 7:46am:


Quite possibly. Polygraph "testing" is based on the assumption that the examinee doesn't know the difference between relevant and "control" questions.

If you admit your knowledge of polygraph procedure to your polygrapher (as J.B. McCloughan, himself a polygrapher, suggests), you run the risk of being arbitrarily accused of deception and/or countermeasure use.

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That's a call you'll have to make for yourself. But knowing that polygraph screening is completely invalid, and that many agencies have pre-employment polygraph failure rates on the order of 50% (much worse odds than Russian roulette), if I were in your shoes, I would definitely employ countermeasures rather than leave things to chance.

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If you do choose to use countermeasures, it would be wise to practice as much as possible. You should understand polygraph proceduce well enough to identify relevant, irrelevant, and "control" questions on-the-fly, and to employ a technique such as mental countermeasures or tongue-biting without visible change.

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One thing you might do is to make a tape recording of a sample question series and practice the countermeasures as you listen to the questions being asked. Typical question series are found in the Federal Psychophysiological Detection of Deception Examiner Handook, the DoDPI Law Enforcement Pre-Employment Test examiner's guide, and the appendices of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector, which may be downloaded, respectively, at:

http://antipolygraph.org/documents/federal-polygraph-handbook-01-03-2004.pdf

http://antipolygraph.org/documents/dodpi-lepet.pdf

http://antipolygraph.org/lie-behind-the-lie-detector.pdf

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Possibly. If you mistake a relevant question for a "control" question, and augment a reaction to it, you're likely to fail. But there is no evidence that polygraphers have any ability to detect the countermeasures explained in The Lie Behind the Lie Detector.

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I think applicants for positions of public trust have an ethical obligation to answer relevant questions truthfully.

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Yes. Even if the decision is not ultimately overturned (it probably won't be), you don't want an uncontested accusation of deception to be the last thing in your file.

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No. But it, too, has no scientific basis.

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No more than it matters whether your astrological chart is interpreted by a wizard or a computer.

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Polygraphers want to hear something positive. You can tell your polygrapher that you've seen it on TV and in the movies, that a friend in law enforcement told you to just tell the truth and you'll do fine, or something similar.

As I mentioned above, if you admit to knowing that polygraphy is junk science and that you know about polygraph countermeasures, you're likely to incur the polygrapher's wrath and be arbitrarily accused of deception and/or countermeasure use.