Twoblock,

I increasingly like you.

Actually, it's ok to know about the polygraph. I know all about it, and I know that it still works on me despite my knowledge. But that doesn't mean I would get all caught up in the process if I were you. The more you mess around during the exam, the less likely you will pass, and the more likely it is that you will be discovered by a good examiner.

I agree that if the polygrapher is abusive in the manner that Twoblock has described, it is unacceptable. Criminal interrogation is one thing; abusively getting in the face of an applicant and treating him or her like a criminal is another. If that happens, don't put up with it.  However, if you truly have a criminal history and the polygraph reveals it to the examiner despite your lying, I have no sympathy for you, and then all bets are off.

My advice still stands: Just take the polygraph without trying any of the countermeasures crap touted on this website, and you should end up just fine as Zending did.

By the way, I'm still very doubtful about your story, Manus. You don't fit the profile of the average law enforcement job applicant, and something just doesn't smell quite right to my trained nose. If you come back here later and claim that you were a false positive--a rare outcome--then I won't be buying your oceanfront property in Arizona anymore.

Manus does not speak like "an anti-polygraphy" zealot. He speaks like someone trained to understand the scientific process. He understands what a scientific control is, he understands statistics and so on. The fact that you relate common knowledge held by any  educated researcher at any level only to the "anti-polygraph" crowd only speaks to your level of ignorance, not anyone else's level of indoctrination.

I took the test 4 times, Manus, for the FBI. I was inconclusive on the first and failed the next 3. Each time I took the test I failed different questions than the time before.

Now that you know how the test works I advise you to completely divulge your level of knowledge to the polygrapher. Tell him the truth--that you were curious about the process found this site and read a bunch of literature and studies and you understand what a control question test is. If you fear a false positive because you understand that passing relies on simply 1 reaction to a question being higher than another, tell him so. You need to clear your mind to help your chances in my opinion. He may try to just lie to you and say this site is full of shit and run by folks who admitted to stuff. It isnt.

People may argue about the ethics of countermeasures and accuracy rates, but the info from the articles on this site is 100% accurate, the DODPi downloads and the Lie behind the Lie detector. I had a former FBI polygrapher spend 2 hours telling me how it worked and what he told me is exactly how it is described in the books on this site.

I would arso argue against "trying coutermeasures" unless you know the following....

1. what a "passing" chart looks like
2. The timing of the scorable reaction
3. What your attempts look like on a chart--in other words, how do you know your CM attempt produces a response that will look realistic--not too small, not too large, at the right time, with the correct amplitude, etc.

In short, Without a lot of knowledge and practice, CMs are a crapshoot if you are going in blind I think.

Quote:

I fully agree.

However, going in and telling the truth is a crapshoot too.  In my experience it results in a passing score only 25% of the time.  A smart player at the craps table has a better than 25% of winning.

Well, where do I start….after many police departments turned me down due to arrests and drug experimentation when I was 16/17 (I’m now “over 30”), I found a larger department that I really thought I had a chance with.  They looked past all the crap in my earlier years after a very successful military career, including just returning from Iraq with multiple awards.  Had the interview/polygraph last week and I was amazed.  The polygrapher said that I was trying to beat the test…I was spiking all over the place.  When I told him, “I was slowing my breathing down” and he asked “Why?”  I told him the truth, “because my heart felt like it was going to blow out of my chest and that’s the first thing you do with someone having an adrenaline rush, slow their breathing down so they maintain control”  He asked me if I ever researched how to beat a polygraph. Over and over and over…my answer still remains the same, “NO, NEVER”  Well, here I am today, now researching it LOL to find out WTH he was talking about”
“Well, my machine is telling me you’re trying to beat the test”
“Sir, I’m not”
“Well, it’s either that or you have something BIG you’re not telling me, causing you to spike across the whole test”
We hashed over the questions, even letting me read the sheet, showing which ones were designed to catch lies and the control questions….over and over again, he was “trying to help” me for an hour.   
It came down to, “Well Sir, it appears that unless I change my answer and tell you that I have researched how to beat the polygraph, I won’t be ‘passed’ and move on to the next stage.”
“I’m not saying that, I just want the truth”
“I am telling you the truth and although it might help me to say I have researched it, THAT would be a lie and I have too much integrity to do that”
Well, that ended the test and I had to see my background investigator.  He had me “sign off” for a few months, and I can start the process again.
I have more integrity than 99% of the cops I know, and have worked side-by-side with, including those in combat….so this crap really confuses the hell out of me and I’m totally frustrated.  They said there is no appeal process, etc.  and although I’ve been told by countless friends, that are totally amazed I didn’t breeze through (because unfortunately I’m one of the most honest people you’ll ever meet), to get a lawyer and fight it…why?  So I can be blacklisted for life?  No thanks…..
One last thing....i know that a background investigation takes up a lot of resources, but i would think this would be the perfect opportunity for them to use the background to find out that i really am a great candidate...maybe i'm just confused...who knows....but surely frustrated.