Who here has ever taken a polygraph test, especially one for a poice department? What did they ask? What was it like? I might need to take one in a few months to become a police officer. I’ve always had a strong opinion against using them because of inaccuracies and stuff, and now I find myself having to take one. I’m not excited.
I’ve never had a polygraph test, but I once had someone read my tealeaves.
I took one. I had to be bonded for a job. Never been poly’ed by the police, though.
No.
BZZZT!
Damn.
I once considered a law enforcement career, too. They gave me a voice stress analysis, which I failed, and then a polygraph, which I also failed.
Odd thing is, I was telling the truth… false positives on both tests.
What was it like? Boring. And in the case of the polygraph, uncomfortable, with the wires on my fingers and the strap around my chest. Knowing that your breathing is being monitored causes you to think too much about your breathing, which is very distracting.
Questions I can remember: Have you ever been fired from a job? Have you ever stolen anything from an employer? Do you belong to any subversive organizations? Have you used any drugs?.. Basically, any bad behavior you can think of, they might ask about, except for kinky sex practices.
They seemed inclined to forgive any “youthful indiscretion” type behavior, if it happened years ago and isn’t part of your life now… provided you’re willing to admit to it, of course.
Ugh. Polygraphs. They scare me.
Vlad Dracul–your false positives just solidify my distrust of polygraphs.
A while ago I was asked to take an (optional) polygraph for my work. My employers knew I hadn’t done anything wrong, but for various reasons they thought it might be a good idea to take the test. I was persuaded (by my union guy and also a cop friend) to opt out of the test, for the precise reason that there are false positives. Apparently it’s easier to get a false positive when you are already stressed out anyway. So what was the point? I knew I hadn’t done anything wrong, my employers knew I hadn’t done anything wrong–but if I got a false positive, there would be that doubt there. Yeesh. I hope I never ever need to take a polygraph.
Sorry, didn’t really help answer the OP’s question much, other than to reiterate the concept of false positives.
I took one to work in a state police crime lab one summer. It was definitely NOT fun. Mine wasn’t really THAT long though. We had to fill out a fairly long questionaire months before the exam. The examiner then went over this and chose questions to ask/explore further. On the exam date, I had an initial interview with him and he went over various questions he had. He chose certain questions and actually let me know before “hooking me up” what he was going to ask. And he only asked the questions he had mentioned before.
He went over a few things afterwards… It seems I had some “reaction” (which I think is interpreted as deception) to the sexual questions. (They were about deviant sexual behavior). I had actually lost my virginity the day before so I think that’s what triggered that.
Anyway, I didn’t like it and I can’t imagine that its anywhere close to being accurate.
Good luck!
They can ask about that?! What does that have to do with the job, anyway?
Another hand raised regarding pre-employment polygraph for a law enforcement position. Perhaps it was my outlook on the whole thing, as I knew I done some things that were illegal in the past, such as controlled substance use, possessing accounts and descriptions of major league baseball games without the express written permission of the Commissioner of baseball, and returning movie video cassettes that weren’t rewound, I relaxed and told the truth.
No problem passing the test, but I never did get hired, dammit.
I would answer, but how will you tell if I’m being truthful?
I’ve always wanted to take one just to prove how much they don’t work. I know I can speed up my pluse and breathing and throw it off. and i lie really really well.
remember, its not a lie if you believe it
I took one when I was 16 or so and the store for which I was working was robbed by an employee.
It was pretty simple. The guy let me see all the results and explained how the whole thing worked.
My, “lie so we can see your reaction” question was “are you pregnant?” (no) but I said yes. The needles went crazy. I don’t think I could pass one if I tried to fake it.
I took one when I was 16 or so and the store for which I was working was robbed by an employee.
It was pretty simple. The guy let me see all the results and explained how the whole thing worked.
My, “lie so we can see your reaction” question was “are you pregnant?” (no) but I said yes. The needles went crazy. I don’t think I could pass one if I tried to fake it.
I know I can do it, I am purely evil. Really, does anybody know what it takes to beat one of those things? I would think self delsuiton alone would not be enough.
Those things are not reliable and I wouldn’t take one under any circumstances.
Haj
Last I heard, polygraph data was not admissible as evidence in any court in the US. Tells you something right there!
I took one the day I was coming down with the most devastating flu of my life. It said I was lying about my name, birthdate, DL number and gender.
At that point the examiner stopped the test and told the potential employer that I was too weird to test. I was not hired as a county emergency dispatcher because of that.
They hired a convicted felon instead. He had not lied on his application, and he passed the polygraph.
Yes.
The FBI came by later and asked some follow-up questions about past drug use and I told them the truth. They seemed satisfied and I got the job.
I haven’t been polygraphed for the police department, but I was polygraphed in connection with my security clearance in the military. It’s not uncomfortable and, if you haven’t done anything wrong, it’s kind of interesting.
They wanted simple yes or no answers, I couldn’t fidget and the breathing was supposed to be nice, relaxed and regular. The yes/no answers weren’t a problem, but sitting in a quiet room looking at the wall while hooked up to a bunch of wires with some stranger in an authority position sitting behind me made me want to fidget something awful. And because I was forcing myself not to fidget, my anxiety level went up a little bit which messed with my breathing.
The examiner was able to take all of this into account, but he did have to repeat several of the questions.
The questions were based on answers I had previously given and sworn to in writing. They did ask about past drug use, arrests, police detention (held but not arrested), credit issues, deviant sexual behaviour, improper handling of classified material, etc…
None of these issues would, necessarily, preclude the security clearance. Lying about any of these issues would, and answers inconsistent with past statements raises flags.
The results of the polygraph weren’t taken alone. Any flags raised during the testing were investigated further. I knew two people that flagged on the classified handling questions and another that flagged on financial. They were investigated further, and it was found that they were just sensitive to those questions. They kept their clearance.
Prior to the examination, the guy went over what he would ask so there wouldn’t be any shockers. If your examiner does this, just run a mental check that what he or she is asking has been covered by what you have already admitted or denied in writing. The polygraph should just be one step in verifying your candidacy. It shouldn’t be a fishing expedition.
And don’t play with the clips on your fingers because it feels fun. It pisses the examiner off.