I recently joined this website to tell everyone about my experience when i was polygraphed and the amount of hate i have towards this screening proccess. I dont know about other people but about seven months ago i applied to become a police officer in an L.A county department but was refused acceptance when i failed to pass my polygraph when i told the truth. 
    I was wondering if anyone could tell me why this department did what they did to me after i did everything that was asked about me. As a police officer recruite i took my first polygraph at intercept inc. After i took my polygraph the poligrapher interigated me for about two hours trying to get me to admit to something i had not done...He was accusing me of lying on the question,"have you commited a serious undisclosed crime?" my answer was no.... like anything other applicant im not perfect... but i never did anything in my past that was past stealing chewing gum which i told them about... unfurtunatley since i didnt pass and since i didnt have anything to tell the polygrapher my test was deemed inconclusive even after he tried to make me admit to something. 
    After two weeks of waiting my background investigater called me in and conducted his own interrigation, and he then asked me at the end to take a second polygraph since my first was inconclusive. After i took this polygraph i was certain that this method of testing a persons credibility was complete bull. I told the truth but came out a "deceiver".... actually i came out to be 97% deceiving after my second polygraph which i was then disqualified. After another two weeks i received a letter in the mail that formally anounced that i was no longer in the highering process becuase of background issues. I then appealed this disqualification and was granted one more polygraph which i then came out to be inconclusive agian. 
    I seriously dont know what to say anymore but im really upset. I scored the highest on the written test, PAT, and the Oral to be first on the hiring list until this stupid polygraph. I was wondering if someone could tell me what an inconclusive test result actually means, and if they disqualify me becuase of that, and also can they overlook a polygraph result if they really wanted to. If someone could answer my question and tell me what my experience really met i would appreciate it becuase i have another polygraph test with a different agency next month and i dont want to fail it when im telling the truth.

Ed Gelb was the guy i had my last polygraph with. Although i don't like any of those polygraphers he was the most professional out of all them. There was this one polygrapher from L.A.P.D that was privately contracted with the agency that i was applying for who gave me a really hard time. One thing that i must say is that these polygraphers are very persistent and some can be even hard to talk to..... the first polygrapher that i went to accused me of using countermeasures..... To be honest I had no clue what the word counter measure meant until my background investigator informed of the accusation... which ultimatley made me go and research to see what i had done from that lead me to this point. I have one other question.... If your baseline for the control questions and the relevant questions are about the same, then shouldn't they pass you since there's no difference... i would have thought that if your lying you would show a bigger more obvious reaction to a question? Also if it wouldn't be of any trouble i would like to know why i would be declared 97% deceiving once and then inconclusive two other times.

Im not sure but i think that we had the same polygrapher.....Ervin Youngblood.... Was he a black male? if it was, he gave me the hardest time in the world. From the beginning of my test he was telling me that i was lying, using different types of counter measures to manipulate the polygraph....he too interrigated me trying to get me to admit to something when there was nothing to tell him.

Wow i cant believe he did that to you too. You know for me it was really hard to understand that i would fail something that the government heavily relies on. When i first applied with my agency the only problem i thought i would have ever had was passing the oral test since i heard that over 75% of the applicants fail that test, but when i scored the highest among all the applicants i thought it would be a breeze until the academy since i had nothing in my background that was bad nor did i have to lie about something. I have wanted to ask you something, have you worked with another agency since you applied with L.A.P.D or will anyother department hire you since they know your opinion about the polygraph and knowledge to beat it.

I wanted to ask you one more thing, i was wondering if you could give me some advice for my next polygraph.

Hey guys...I have a similar problem. I was accused of having non-consensual relations with a girl based on her consumption of alcohol. I certainly did feel she was coherent enough to consent, although she said she does not recall anything. My school sent me to a counseling center who refereed me to another guy who is a former polygraphist and a MSW. He recommended a polygraph with another man, so with nothing to lose but my higher education, I quickly said yes.

I was given a full disclosure about everything in my sexual history. Then the test was given. Apparently both men thought I was forthright, honest, and had nothing to hide (obviously they are correct because if I lie to them, I could get kicked out of school. 

My first test was a few months ago, and I told the truth on every question, again because if I lie, I'm screwed. The test came back inconclusive and like gorg, I was interrogated and he kept asking, why are you not being truthful? I said I don't know what to tell you because I've told you everything. He said well you can tell me the truth, and it went on like that for a while.

Needless to say, without another test, I would get decent report to my school but as of now, they feel the case is not yet done until I complete another test which is this Thursday. This is a crime if you ask me.

The reason this is going on is because I was referred by the school to a counseling center who referred me to these people. THIS IS STRICTLY THROUGH THE SCHOOL, no law enforcement. It is a weird way to go about it but either way, the school wanted me to follow through with it. I feel like the school administrators are a bit wary about this, and regardless of the outcome of the test, I'm hoping they will take action based on how I was with the people, not with the test.

If I don't go through with this test, it would further drag out this situation, and possibly look to my guilt, not complying with the schools wishes, and be suspended. But if I do take it and have another inconclusive or a fail, I could still be kept at school with certain sanctions I suppose. I would love to tell the school that this test really means nothing to me but at the same time they ordered me to do something and I feel like if I show I am going through the steps to get everything done, they will see that I am really trying to clear my name.

Actually, the NAS report is not available for download from AntiPolygraph.org. However, it may be read on-line here:

http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?isbn=0309084369

A more succinct refutation of polygraphy is available in the form of William G. Iacono's article, "Forensic 'Lie Detection': Procedures Without Scientific Basis," which may be viewed and printed out here:

https://antipolygraph.org/articles/article-018.shtml