Well, I spoke to my background investigator and he told me that I will have to retake the polygraph . He told me that they feel that there could have been deception in a question. He didn't tell me which one it was. The question will be focused on at my next test. I dont know what went wrong? I do have a question though, if I dont do any breathing patterns and just do the anal sphincter, could that work good enough? Is it mandatory to manipulate the breathing. I was thinking that I could keep a nice breathing pattern and just manipulate the anal sphincter. This stuff is just fustrating me and it could ruin my dream of getting into lawenforcement. Any suggestions would help thanks. Oh by the way, my best friend is a female that took the poly the same day as me and she lied on the poly w/out countermeasures and passed it.She told me the guy was sweet on her. Go figure. ???

Also, when doing any king of breathing (such as the baseline pattern), be sure to make the transition between each inhale-exhale-inhale nice and smooth.  One helpful analogy that we omitted in The Lie Behind the Lie Detector is that of a "California Stop." This is where a vehicle almost comes to a halt at a stop sign, but does not come to the full stop that actually makes the vehicle rock back and forth on its suspension.  Think of this when practicing your breathing.

Best,

The question you ask is an administrative one, and I don't know the answer to it. You could call the department with which you're applying and ask.

It seems plausible that the relevant questions in your follow-up polygraph interrogation might pertain solely to one particular area where the polygraph examiner thought you were having "trouble," but again, I don't know.

BUSE1,

I don't know whether it is common for agencies that use contractors to administer polygraph examinations to have re-tests done by  a different contractor. The fact that you've been told to report to a different polygrapher does not seem to me to be any cause for alarm.

Regarding the use of countermeasures, I highly recommend that in addition to Doug Williams' "How to Sting the Polygraph," you also download and read Chapters 3, 4, and 5 of The Lie Behind the Lie Detector. (It's free.) We discuss several countermeasures not mentioned in Doug Williams' manual which you may wish to consider (if you do decide to employ countermeasures). I also think we do a better job of explaining how to recognize "control" questions (which is key to the successful employment of countermeasures).

Regarding whether your polygrapher will be as pleasant as the first time, again, it's impossible to say. Be prepared.

When you cleared your throat and coughed during your first polygraph interrogation, you may have created physiological responses that in the polygraph trade are referred to as "artifacts." My understanding is that when artifacts such as might be caused by coughing or other movement occur, it is common for the polygrapher not to score the question on which the artifact occured. Instead, the polygrapher will ask an irrelevant question (to serve as a buffer), and then re-ask the question on which the artifact occured. Under these circumstances, the artifact(s) would not affect the scoring of the polygraph chart.

Fred, I did sign a release of liability. And their not just using a different polygrapher, their using a different agency. They must be using alot of the tax payers money for this bull.Its funny that I acually have to worry about some stupid machine which holds the fate of my career. I feel that I'm worrying like if I did something or like if I'm hiding something when in reality I haven't done anything wrong. Its ridiculous! I know that I will make a great police officer and will serve my community right. By the way, I've tried to download the book and all I get is exel with a bunch of codes. Tell me what I'm doing wrong. Thanks.

To view and print The Lie Behind the Lie Detector, you'll need Adobe Acrobat Reader, which is free. You'll find a link to Adobe's download site at the bottom of the AntiPolygraph.org publications page.

FRED:"One question I want to ask is are you required to sign a "release of liability" that frees the "examiner" from any retribution?"

During my last polygraph test in which I passed, when presented with the "release of liability" I jokingly asked, "do I have to sign this" the examiner said no, but whispered "you and I both know what the police department will do if you don't so......".  He was probably right.  I know some say to refuse to sign this but I can see the examiner failing you anyhow or the Police Department not hiring you do to lack of cooperation problems/inability to follow orders.  My advice (and my advice only) is to just play the game, but better than they do! 

Has anyone had to re-take their polygraph and at the same time have their background investigation going?