I recently applied for a Police Department, and I feel that I got a screw job from the Polygraphist. When I talked to me friends that had gone through the Polygraph and talked to my teachers in my criminal justice classes they all told me that I got the Polygraphist from Hell. Okay so here’s what happened.
I showed up and Hour early for the test only to be told that the Detective that is going to do my Polygraph test is going to be a half and hour late, I was like that’s not a big deal I understand that they get busy. When the Detective finally shows up he takes me back to a closed room and has me read and sign consent paper advising me of my rights, that I could walk out during the middle of my test if I so choose. I was there to tell the truth everything that they asked I answered in full and held nothing back no matter how embarrassing it was.
The test seem to go immediately down hill from the start. The Detective starts telling me that he had no reason to fail me that day, that I need to be honest so I would not be like the guy that I saw walk out of the office before me who failed. When he said that a red flag went up because I thought they weren’t allowed to talk about others peoples results to another person, or at least not to a member of the public or another applicant.
It seems like the Detective try’s to get me to calm down because I was a little nervous, only to then turn around and start using scare tactics to make me want to tell the truth. The Detective starts telling me that the Department has a 15% pass rate and an 85% fail rate when it comes to the polygraph. He then goes on to tell me that if I am not honest and I fail the test that I might was well look for a different career field and change my college major because no Police Department in the Country will want me including Federal Agencies. Right then I start getting even more nervous because now I’m like all the hard work I have put into school will go right down the drain if I fail.
So we went through the packet of 250 questions so he could edit me a test just for me which came out to be about 7 questions. He gave me a break and I came back and he strapped me into the Polygraph machine, only to state again that if I fail this test that my career in Law Enforcement would be over before it would even start. We started the test and go through it the first time, he tells me that I’m moving too much. It was kind of hard to stay still the first time because the arms of the chair was so low that I couldn’t really balance my self and stay completely still. He immediately tells me it looks like I’m being deceptive, he asks me if I can tell him what I’m holding back and I tell him nothing.
We start it again and this time he asks me to close my eyes and try to stay still, the blood pressure piece on my arm was so tight that I started to have spasms in my fingers and my arm felt like it was going to pop. Again he accused me of being deceptive, I was like I’m telling you everything I have nothing to hide, you told me if I wanted this job I had to tell you everything to prove that I have integrity. I admitted to stupid stuff I did when I was younger including minor use of marijuana. So he said okay we are going to run the test one last time, I was like okay go for it I’m hiding nothing.
We went through it and again at the end he told me I was being deceptive. When we finished the test he told me that it looks like I’m being deceptive and that he would have to look at it some more. He told me that I was being deceptive on “have you used narcotics within the past year?”, I told him no that I had been clean for almost 3 years. I was like if that’s the only part that looks deceptive then how can I pass the parts “have you ever lied to a person of law authority?” and have I been 100% honest with him that day.
While I was leaving he told me that if I thought of anything on why I was setting the system off to email him and tell him. Then he also wanted to try and be buddy, buddy and talk to me about my Uncle that had worked in the Department. I left and felt like I had been labeled a liar for telling the complete and honest truth, I asked my friend how his test went and he said he was never told that if he failed his career would be over before it started. So anyway I finally get a letter in the mail today to tell me that I am not up to the Departments standards and that I can never apply for the Department again. I feel like I got screwed for telling the truth, and that I got the Polygraphist from hell who made me more nervous then when I had first gotten there.
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Disappointed (Read 12687 times)
