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A forum for free and open discussion of polygraph-related topics
Posted by RoamingBack
- Dec 26, 2012, 04:05 PMNot sure if anyone answered you here, seems not.
Of course you have answers to the 'job' issue but unless the organization is a Federal one, most LEs don't share information (others might have more knowledge about the legality of such) about your job application (unless of course you are applying for 'another' job with the same jurisdiction).
I failed a poly (batting .500 now) when I was telling the truth. The question was about a long ago prior marriage. Polygraphs measure the 'physiology of psychology' or how your body responds to 'perceived' stress. Unfortunately your "own" body can be the cause of the stress... some people think in 'big pictures' and so a question about 'one tiny' area of your life actually OPENS the door in your own mind to that "big period" of time where you were (fill in the blanks but like "stressed to the max", "fearful beyond imagination" or anything that causes great physiological turmoil!) this or that... and bingo, you have a hit on the graph. So, I'm asked, "Did you ever kick your dog?" Well, no... but I don't see that question in my mind when asked, I only recall the day I accidentally ran over him and killed him! I failed the 'no' answer, should have answered yes... but it would not have been truthful. "Did you ever strike your wife?" Well, "no", that is accurate... but I once upset her so much with something I 'did not do' that I've always thought I was abusive and so I failed... should have said "Yes"...
Polygraphs only measure your body's "physiology" at any given moment during a questioning process and it cannot 'determine' exactly what you are thinking that prompts that physiological response.
Doubt you will get a copy of the report... hang tough. Don't take it personally but work wherever you can to stop polygraphs in job applications. They are inaccurate and demeaning.
Of course you have answers to the 'job' issue but unless the organization is a Federal one, most LEs don't share information (others might have more knowledge about the legality of such) about your job application (unless of course you are applying for 'another' job with the same jurisdiction).
I failed a poly (batting .500 now) when I was telling the truth. The question was about a long ago prior marriage. Polygraphs measure the 'physiology of psychology' or how your body responds to 'perceived' stress. Unfortunately your "own" body can be the cause of the stress... some people think in 'big pictures' and so a question about 'one tiny' area of your life actually OPENS the door in your own mind to that "big period" of time where you were (fill in the blanks but like "stressed to the max", "fearful beyond imagination" or anything that causes great physiological turmoil!) this or that... and bingo, you have a hit on the graph. So, I'm asked, "Did you ever kick your dog?" Well, no... but I don't see that question in my mind when asked, I only recall the day I accidentally ran over him and killed him! I failed the 'no' answer, should have answered yes... but it would not have been truthful. "Did you ever strike your wife?" Well, "no", that is accurate... but I once upset her so much with something I 'did not do' that I've always thought I was abusive and so I failed... should have said "Yes"...
Polygraphs only measure your body's "physiology" at any given moment during a questioning process and it cannot 'determine' exactly what you are thinking that prompts that physiological response.
Doubt you will get a copy of the report... hang tough. Don't take it personally but work wherever you can to stop polygraphs in job applications. They are inaccurate and demeaning.
Posted by Beachbum
- Sep 27, 2012, 09:50 PMCan someone please help with a couple of questions? I got a letter today saying my offer had been retracted. I can't even believe it! I know it has to be because of my poly, and I m so frustrated because I did absolutely nothing wrong unless you count being extremely nervous and feeling intimidated.
What does this mean for me as far as taking polys for other agencies? Am I going to be blacklisted or flagged or something? Equally concerning to me is that most of my closest friends are LEOs, and the last thing I need is this detective talking to someone who talks to someone else about whatever his misperceptions are. He assured me that it was completely confidential, but we all know investigators are allowed to mislead in order to get what they want. Does anyone know if/what laws protect privacy around polys? I
Have told my closest friends the entire scenario because
I have nothing to hide, I just don't want it
getting all twisted around.
Last question is, if I want a copy of this report, should I contact the detective who did it, or someone else in the department?
This has been such a horrible experience, and I really wanted the job. I'm really crushed, but at least I have the self respect to not tell a strange guy every quirky (but legal!) detail of my sex life just because he's curious....
What does this mean for me as far as taking polys for other agencies? Am I going to be blacklisted or flagged or something? Equally concerning to me is that most of my closest friends are LEOs, and the last thing I need is this detective talking to someone who talks to someone else about whatever his misperceptions are. He assured me that it was completely confidential, but we all know investigators are allowed to mislead in order to get what they want. Does anyone know if/what laws protect privacy around polys? I
Have told my closest friends the entire scenario because
I have nothing to hide, I just don't want it
getting all twisted around.
Last question is, if I want a copy of this report, should I contact the detective who did it, or someone else in the department?
This has been such a horrible experience, and I really wanted the job. I'm really crushed, but at least I have the self respect to not tell a strange guy every quirky (but legal!) detail of my sex life just because he's curious....
Posted by Beachbum
- Sep 25, 2012, 01:38 PMI guess the experience could have been so overwhelming that I missed that possibility. I still haven't heard anything back 5 days later regarding either a re-test or a retraction of my conditional hire. Does anyone know what the process is, after the results are forwarded to the agency? How long does it usually take?
Posted by stefano
- Sep 23, 2012, 02:30 AMQuote from: Beachbum on Sep 22, 2012, 11:54 PMHe told me that he was willing to stay there all night so that we could sort it outI think this guy was getting off on it--much too preoccupied with the sex angle. Why you guys submit yourselves to this humiliation is beyond me.
Posted by Beachbum
- Sep 22, 2012, 11:54 PMFirst let me say thank you for having this site, and I apologize if this is lengthy or sounds like the post before mine.
I am a female who recently took my first poly, although I previously worked part-time as a sworn LEO and had not taken one for that job. I was always a pretty confident person at work (but not always in my personal life)and did my job very well. The only reason for leaving it was that my full-time job in the private sector was taking up all my time, and diving into law enforcement full-time wasn't something I was ready for at that age. My background check for this new agency was spotless and I have impeccable references from other LEOs.
So going into the poly, I was pretty nervous. I am not sure why, because being in the field for the past 6 years I have known a ton of people who have been through it. I hate even going to the doctor or job interviews, but I couldn't believe how nervous I was for this. All I could think about were all the friends who have been through it and have said it was an awful experience, or they got false results, or were interrogated about things they didn't do (most still got their jobs regardless), and how violated they said they felt, even the males. I was very shy growing up, and consider myself a pretty private and reserved person. I have really never done anything that bad: never experimented with drugs of any type, or even had so much as a speeding ticket in my whole life. I had a couple of things from my PD that I never returned that nobody missed, and I fessed up to those.
The question in the pre-poly questionairre that bothered me the most was "what is the worst thing that you ever did while you were drunk?" because it was something sexual and quite embarassing, but not illegal in any way. In fact probably not even that unusual, but definitely out of character for me. I absolutely dreaded having to talk about this or any other "embarassing moments," which a couple other questions were centered around, but I did with the examiner having to drag it out of me.
Right after this, I could tell I was all tensed up and probably turning 50 shades of red and pouring sweat. I really thought this would be a lot easier, but I pretty much couldn't even look at the guy. Right away, he asks if this is going to be a "problem question" for me, because most people get gigged up on either drugs or sex. The way the question was worded, "are you intentionally witholding any information about your involvement in criminal sexual activity," seemed fine with me, because even though this triggered thoughts of all the awkward or embarassing things I have done, I have never engaged in sex crimes. I guess I was stupid enough to think the machine would know a lie from an emotional trigger, even though I had done some reading here and heard otherwise. He asked me again if there was anything else I needed to tell him, because he didn't want me to be thinking about stuff while hooked to the machine and be wondering if I should have disclosed it or not. I said againt that no, the question would not be any issue because I have not engaged in any sex crimes. He then moved on to the other topics.
So when we finally got through the 30ish pages of questions, he picked six relevent questions that I would answer while actually hooked to the machine. They were alll worded "are you intentionally witholding any information about your involvement in criminal
1. Drug activity
2. Sexual activity
3. Terrorist activity
4.Theft
5.Serious crimes of any type
and then the generic "are you witholding any information."
He told me I would be asked these in varying order along with the control/irrelevant questions. He also told me that he would ask the serious of questions 6 or 7 times. So I get hooked up to the machine, and I'm totally nervous and creeped out by the whole thing. He asked me the questions, and I could feel myself cranking up on the question about criminal sexual activity because of the embarassing stuff I had disclosed, but also because this was the question that he had pushed. I honestly thought it would be drugs, because really, how many people can say they never even took a puff of a joint?
So we went through the questions the third time, and he stood up and said that he had enough data. This threw me because it was only halfway through what he said it would be. he called me back into the room after 10 minutes and said that he was "concerned" and could tell that the question had bothered me. I told him that i had answered it honestly, and he asked if I wanted to see the screen. He showed me where each time he asked it, my lines went up considerably. I didn't think the question bothered me as much as it apparently had. He asked what I had been thinking about when the question came up, and I said the stuff that I had already told him about. He told me that he was willing to stay there all night so that we could sort it out, but I told him again that I honestly had never committed a sex crime. He never said that I failed the test, but said that this seemed to indicate deception or that I was witholding information. I asked him what this meant for my process, and he said that he would send it to the agency but that it seemed there were things we needed to talk more about, and that maybe i was just embarassed to talk about them. he said these results would not bar me from taking other polygraphs or "finishing" this one with him at a later date if/when I was ready. He said that sex was a personal thing and he wasn't going to push me.
What does this mean? Why did he stop it half way through? In no way do I thing anything inappropriate occured here, he seemed to be completely professional in every way. Was he really that concerned? If so, wouldn't he have interrogated me further? I have no idea where I stand in the process now, but can't stand the thought of this guy thinking I'm some type of prostitute or child molestor or god knows what else :-/
I am a female who recently took my first poly, although I previously worked part-time as a sworn LEO and had not taken one for that job. I was always a pretty confident person at work (but not always in my personal life)and did my job very well. The only reason for leaving it was that my full-time job in the private sector was taking up all my time, and diving into law enforcement full-time wasn't something I was ready for at that age. My background check for this new agency was spotless and I have impeccable references from other LEOs.
So going into the poly, I was pretty nervous. I am not sure why, because being in the field for the past 6 years I have known a ton of people who have been through it. I hate even going to the doctor or job interviews, but I couldn't believe how nervous I was for this. All I could think about were all the friends who have been through it and have said it was an awful experience, or they got false results, or were interrogated about things they didn't do (most still got their jobs regardless), and how violated they said they felt, even the males. I was very shy growing up, and consider myself a pretty private and reserved person. I have really never done anything that bad: never experimented with drugs of any type, or even had so much as a speeding ticket in my whole life. I had a couple of things from my PD that I never returned that nobody missed, and I fessed up to those.
The question in the pre-poly questionairre that bothered me the most was "what is the worst thing that you ever did while you were drunk?" because it was something sexual and quite embarassing, but not illegal in any way. In fact probably not even that unusual, but definitely out of character for me. I absolutely dreaded having to talk about this or any other "embarassing moments," which a couple other questions were centered around, but I did with the examiner having to drag it out of me.
Right after this, I could tell I was all tensed up and probably turning 50 shades of red and pouring sweat. I really thought this would be a lot easier, but I pretty much couldn't even look at the guy. Right away, he asks if this is going to be a "problem question" for me, because most people get gigged up on either drugs or sex. The way the question was worded, "are you intentionally witholding any information about your involvement in criminal sexual activity," seemed fine with me, because even though this triggered thoughts of all the awkward or embarassing things I have done, I have never engaged in sex crimes. I guess I was stupid enough to think the machine would know a lie from an emotional trigger, even though I had done some reading here and heard otherwise. He asked me again if there was anything else I needed to tell him, because he didn't want me to be thinking about stuff while hooked to the machine and be wondering if I should have disclosed it or not. I said againt that no, the question would not be any issue because I have not engaged in any sex crimes. He then moved on to the other topics.
So when we finally got through the 30ish pages of questions, he picked six relevent questions that I would answer while actually hooked to the machine. They were alll worded "are you intentionally witholding any information about your involvement in criminal
1. Drug activity
2. Sexual activity
3. Terrorist activity
4.Theft
5.Serious crimes of any type
and then the generic "are you witholding any information."
He told me I would be asked these in varying order along with the control/irrelevant questions. He also told me that he would ask the serious of questions 6 or 7 times. So I get hooked up to the machine, and I'm totally nervous and creeped out by the whole thing. He asked me the questions, and I could feel myself cranking up on the question about criminal sexual activity because of the embarassing stuff I had disclosed, but also because this was the question that he had pushed. I honestly thought it would be drugs, because really, how many people can say they never even took a puff of a joint?
So we went through the questions the third time, and he stood up and said that he had enough data. This threw me because it was only halfway through what he said it would be. he called me back into the room after 10 minutes and said that he was "concerned" and could tell that the question had bothered me. I told him that i had answered it honestly, and he asked if I wanted to see the screen. He showed me where each time he asked it, my lines went up considerably. I didn't think the question bothered me as much as it apparently had. He asked what I had been thinking about when the question came up, and I said the stuff that I had already told him about. He told me that he was willing to stay there all night so that we could sort it out, but I told him again that I honestly had never committed a sex crime. He never said that I failed the test, but said that this seemed to indicate deception or that I was witholding information. I asked him what this meant for my process, and he said that he would send it to the agency but that it seemed there were things we needed to talk more about, and that maybe i was just embarassed to talk about them. he said these results would not bar me from taking other polygraphs or "finishing" this one with him at a later date if/when I was ready. He said that sex was a personal thing and he wasn't going to push me.
What does this mean? Why did he stop it half way through? In no way do I thing anything inappropriate occured here, he seemed to be completely professional in every way. Was he really that concerned? If so, wouldn't he have interrogated me further? I have no idea where I stand in the process now, but can't stand the thought of this guy thinking I'm some type of prostitute or child molestor or god knows what else :-/