I recently took a test for a police department in Kansas.  I believe in honesty and upholding the law.  Therefor I told them EVERYTHING that I ever did.  The worst thing I did was steal money from my fist job when I was 16.  I was told that they would not hold that against me and went ahead and hired a polygrapher.  This means I could have recieved a job if I passed the polygraph.   
Well the polygraph came out that I lied on a question.  The question was "Besides when you where 16, have you ever stole any more money from an employeer".  I answered no which was the truth. It said I lied but what's really wierd is that none of my jobs after that one dealt with money?  I worked the campus police department, loss prevention, private investigator, jailer, and I'm currently a probation officer. I believe I failed because the question was about something I did that I feel guilty and nervous about. 
Needless to say my application was stopped when they found out I failed the polygraph.  I'm only 23 and have a BS in Criminal Justice (with high honors) and I have always wanted to be a police officer.  I don't have anything on my record, not even a speeding ticket!!! Now all the police departments refer me too the same polgraph company that failed me, so or course he's going to fail me again because it will make him look unprofessional if he doesn't come out with the same results.  What should I do???

Before I took the hiring polygraph for a western USA sheriff's office I read youtr printed material on the test and counter measures. I found out today that I was hired. Thanks for your help.

About 5 yrs ago, I took one for CT State and I'll tell you that the poly administrator was tough on me, needless to say I wasn't hired. It's not that I hid anything or I was a criminal or druggy, I told the truth and wasn't good enough for them

Maybe someone can help me understand the situation better. I was under the impression that a question which began with "besides..." or "other than..." were control questions. If I'm not mistaken, the testee should show a reaction to control questions. If the examiner said you were lying, what reaction was he looking for on this, a peak or no change at all.

  Nate's situation, in addition to being personally tragic for him, highlights for us one of many flaws of control question test polygraphy as applied to personnel/applicant screening.  As pointed out by others, in a criminal specific polygraph test, a polygraph question which begins with a modifier (e.g., "Prior to the age of 18.....", "While in high school......", or  "Other than what you have told me......") and does not refer to a specific act ("Have you ever stolen from an employer?" as opposed to one which does, e.g. "Did you steal that money from John's desk?) is generally a control question.

    In a screening application test, because there is no knowledge of a specific act having been committed, i.e., a fishing expedition, there will be no questions referring to specific acts.  This means that, in a screening test, all relevant questions (and subject areas) are very similar to the control questions/subject areas in a criminal specific issue test and in fact very similar to control areas within the given screening test (the latter, i.e., screening controls just not of interest or relevance to the party administering the test).  Even in terms of their (polygraphers that is) own theory about how a control question test works (relationship between control/comparison and relevant questions), this makes for a very messy test.  This is not to suggest that their theory is correct for criminal specific tests (it is not), but just  to point out how nonsensical it is when applied to screening tests.

   The bottom line to all of this is that, because theft is a subject area which is commonly addressed in a polygraph screening test, in spite of the structure of the question and based on the previous discussion, I would suspect that the polygraph question under discussion was in fact a relevant question.

I'd like to correct what I said earlier.  After thinking back on the question that I was asked.  It was, "Besides when you where 16, have you stolen anything of more than xxx value from an employer?"  You were correct in thinking he did not say "money" but of "value".  I spoke to the personel office recently and they said that my application was just stopped but that I was not disqualified???  I asked them why I was stopped because two of my best friends got on the same department and they have no college degrees and no prior working experience at all, just warm bodies.  The personel office actually told me what questions I lied on.  The other question was "are you currently involved in any criminal activity?".  IM A F?#@*@! probation officer!!!  I'm not a drug dealer!  She said I can re-apply in the future.  I thought it was wierd that they didn't "disqualify" me but just "stopped my application process" (seems like a legal tactic to me).  She said that when I apply again that I should request to take the polygraph over again but this seems stupid because of course the polygraph examiner is going to say I'm lying again or it will make him look stupid.  What should I do?

Probation officer who graduated with "high honors?"

1) Weird, not wierd, is the word you are trying to spell but can't.

2) Probation officer who failed a polygraph test when you were telling the truth?  Go ask a sex offender who is on probation how he feels about being scored deceptive on a monitoring exam when he told the truth.  I know, because I am one.  I screwed up, but I am not a screw up - there's a difference.  I'm sure now you can appreciate how infuriating it is to be "told" you are lying when you know you told the truth.