Discontinued Test HELP!!!

[new_police]

OK,

   I had my first polygraph this morning and was a little nervous but was assured that it was all normal.  Right from the first handshake I felt that I was an inconvience to my examiner and he seemed rather irritated at first.  This of course left me a little uneasy, I thought I was doing all the right things.

1: I showed up 15 minutes early
2: I was dressed nice (Shirt and Tie)
3: I got a good nights sleep
4: I had a good breakfast

He started to relax a little bit with me which helped calm me down.  We went through all the pre-test interview questions which seemed pretty routine.  Once we went through everything he was quick to point out how few admissions I had and kept asking me if I had anything else I needed to say obviously I had nothing else to admit to.  He got into this body chemistry monologue about how our bodies responds to lying etc.  I felt myself getting a little impatient and thinking to myself "enough already lets roll".  We started the test and the first two phases went fine (which he admitted to me after the test).  When we started the 3rd phase I started feeling my throat get scratchy so I swallowed and obviousely this created a ruckus on his machine.  This probably happened 3 or 4 more time throughout the next 2 phases.  I was starting to get a little stressed out because I was fighting my bodies natural reaction to swallow which I will assume was causing more ruckus.  To make a long story short the test ended and he immediately took everything off me and said that he did not have a good feeling about it.  So I was asked to sit in the lobby and waited maybe 10 or 15 minutes.  He brought me back into the examination room and said that he could not in good conscience pass or fail me because of the problems I had during the second half of the test.  However, he did say that I did fine during the first half of the exam.  So I sat down and he said that the test was "Discontinued".  I told him that I was 100% truthfull with him and did not lie.  He responded to me with "I didn't say you lied" "You didn't pass either."  This did not make any sense to me.  If I was fine and passed the first half of the test why would I not get the benefit of the doubt during the second half.  Also, I wasn't swallowing during every question and a lot of the same questions were asked multiple times there must have been some way to read those charts.  My polygrapher was professional and I didn't feel threatened in any way.  I just need to know where to go from here. 

1:  Has anyone ever had a discontinued polygraph and has anything positive ever come of it?


Thanks

[George W. Maschke]

There's nothing wrong with swallowing during the "in-test" phase of a polygraph interrogation. You're not supposed to finish the question series with a mouth full of saliva.

Based on your account, I'm not sure whether the polygrapher actually terminated the procedure early, or whether he in fact completed the in-test phase and simply scored the charts as "inconclusive." I think the latter is the more likely possibility.

In such a situation (and I'm assuming this was a pre-employment polygraph), the normal procedure would be to schedule a "re-test."

[new_police]

He did complete all four phases of the test.  Once everything was done he went into a back room to review the results.  When he came back out he was very specific of the result being "Discontinued".  He told me there were four possible outcomes NDI,DI,Inconclusive and Discontinued which is what I came back at.  I left a voice mail and an e-mail with the recruiting officer as to what happened, however I have not heard back as of yet.  Im concerned with how much time there is before the expected start date and the possibility of not even being re-tested due to cost.  There is a limited number of examiners and they are booked up, so Im kind of in limbo as to what will happen next if anything at all.  I know for a fact that my backround is solid, so no worries there.  Lets say nothing comes of it and this opportunity slips away, will a Discontinued result hurt me with another agency? 

[T.M. Cullen]

He told me there were four possible outcomes NDI,DI,Inconclusive and Discontinued which is what I came back at.

That's interesting as we had a polygrapher on this board, Ed Van Arsdale, who swore up and down that polygraphers do not use the term "deception indicated", and that is was an "over generalization" to say they do.  I had asked the age old question "does the machine actually detect deception or simply measure nervous reactions?"  They say "no" (it doesn't measure deception per se, but...) so I ask them "then why do you use the the term DI?"


TC

[George W. Maschke]

Lets say nothing comes of it and this opportunity slips away, will a Discontinued result hurt me with another agency? 

I would expect it to be considered derogatory, but not so much as an outright accusation of deception.

[new_police]

Oh thats just great!! The recruiting officer still hasn't called me back yet, so I guess I can assume that Im not being considered anymore.  Unless he is waiting for my backround to come back before calling me.  Do you know how long it takes for a backround investigator to complete an applicants backround?  Everything happened kind of fast my oral board was on the 6th and my poly was this past monday. I have a test for two other agencies coming up in June.  So should I just keep testing or find something else to do?

[new_police]

Well I have good news and bad news.  The good news is I may get a chance to re-test.  The bad news is that all the examiners are booked up for a period of time and the chances of me getting back in there before the deadline is slim, unless there is a cancelation.