A young police officer once applied for reassignment to a vice unit in a
major police department. A polygraph examination was required, and it
was administered by the department's full time polygraph examiner.
The examiner had more than twenty years experience, and he was
considered to be a highly qualified expert in his field.
After a pretest interview, the examination began. Nearly every question
during the polygraph test revolved around the officer's marriage.
"Have you ever cheated on your wife? Have you ever lied to your wife?
Have you ever held back money from your wife?" The officer answered
no to every question.
The examiner stopped the questioning for several minutes as he wrote
hurriedly on a note pad. As the officer sat waiting for the examiner to
continue, he turned his head toward the machine. Curious to see a
reaction from the machine, he took a sudden deep breath to see if the
needles on the machine would react. The sudden wide swing of one of
the needles caught the examiner's eye and elicited a rebuke, "Stop
fooling around, and look straight ahead."
When the examiner resumed the testing, he continued to focus on the
officer's marriage. He ask all the same questions over and over again
but with different variations. "Have you ever had an affair during your
marriage. Have you ever had sex with another woman during your
marriage." The questions about money and marriage were similarly
varied.
After exhausting the subject of marriage, money, lies, and sex, the
examiner abruptly concluded the test. The officer naturally asked if
he'd passed the examination? Of course, the examiner would not share
his professional conclusion with the officer. You see... that's part of the
polygraph mystique. They'll never tell you if you pass or fail.
The officer left the examiner's office feeling pretty good with himself.
The examiner didn't have to tell him he'd passed the test since he'd
answered every question truthfully.
Okay... I know what you're thinking. All of the questions were
perfectly valid since an assignment to vice enforcement would
constantly expose the officer to sex and money. And... you're absolutely
correct. However, the examiner made one critical mistake during the
pretest interview. While he verified that the officer was married, he
never inquired as to how long the officer had been married. In this
case, I'd only been married for two short weeks. Had he known that
fact, his questions would have been much different. In case you're
wondering if I got the assignment, you'll learn that it takes a lot more
than truthfulness to get an assignment of your choice.
A polygraph is just a machine. At the link I've provided below, you're
going to see the following: "During a polygraph, an examiner is always
paying attention to these fundamental clues and cues, developing a
sense of the suspect's values, beliefs, motives, and attitudes." Talk
about everything being in the eye of the beholder. It doesn't sound
much different from what you'll be doing every time you interview or
interrogate a victim or suspect respectively. Another thing you'll learn
is that the polygraph was never developed, or intended, for law
enforcement; although, it's use in law enforcement has become
widespread. Oh, well... that's cops for you... always looking for a
shortcut.
The polygraph is getting a lot of use these days for preemployment
hiring of police officers. It's probably a legitimate use since the person
is a relatively unknown quantity. Any deception indicated would be an
aid in conducting a background investigation. However, if any perceived
deception is, in and of itself, the determining factor for denying
employment, that person becomes the victim of one man's, or woman's,
conclusion.
After you become a police officer, you'll notice that the only time a
criminal suspect, or police officer, is asked to take a polygraph
examination is when the investigator has already concluded, by other
investigative methods, that he or she is lying. So, when you hear a
polygraph described as an investigative aid, you might want to take a
closer look at the investigator.
major police department. A polygraph examination was required, and it
was administered by the department's full time polygraph examiner.
The examiner had more than twenty years experience, and he was
considered to be a highly qualified expert in his field.
After a pretest interview, the examination began. Nearly every question
during the polygraph test revolved around the officer's marriage.
"Have you ever cheated on your wife? Have you ever lied to your wife?
Have you ever held back money from your wife?" The officer answered
no to every question.
The examiner stopped the questioning for several minutes as he wrote
hurriedly on a note pad. As the officer sat waiting for the examiner to
continue, he turned his head toward the machine. Curious to see a
reaction from the machine, he took a sudden deep breath to see if the
needles on the machine would react. The sudden wide swing of one of
the needles caught the examiner's eye and elicited a rebuke, "Stop
fooling around, and look straight ahead."
When the examiner resumed the testing, he continued to focus on the
officer's marriage. He ask all the same questions over and over again
but with different variations. "Have you ever had an affair during your
marriage. Have you ever had sex with another woman during your
marriage." The questions about money and marriage were similarly
varied.
After exhausting the subject of marriage, money, lies, and sex, the
examiner abruptly concluded the test. The officer naturally asked if
he'd passed the examination? Of course, the examiner would not share
his professional conclusion with the officer. You see... that's part of the
polygraph mystique. They'll never tell you if you pass or fail.
The officer left the examiner's office feeling pretty good with himself.
The examiner didn't have to tell him he'd passed the test since he'd
answered every question truthfully.
Okay... I know what you're thinking. All of the questions were
perfectly valid since an assignment to vice enforcement would
constantly expose the officer to sex and money. And... you're absolutely
correct. However, the examiner made one critical mistake during the
pretest interview. While he verified that the officer was married, he
never inquired as to how long the officer had been married. In this
case, I'd only been married for two short weeks. Had he known that
fact, his questions would have been much different. In case you're
wondering if I got the assignment, you'll learn that it takes a lot more
than truthfulness to get an assignment of your choice.
A polygraph is just a machine. At the link I've provided below, you're
going to see the following: "During a polygraph, an examiner is always
paying attention to these fundamental clues and cues, developing a
sense of the suspect's values, beliefs, motives, and attitudes." Talk
about everything being in the eye of the beholder. It doesn't sound
much different from what you'll be doing every time you interview or
interrogate a victim or suspect respectively. Another thing you'll learn
is that the polygraph was never developed, or intended, for law
enforcement; although, it's use in law enforcement has become
widespread. Oh, well... that's cops for you... always looking for a
shortcut.
The polygraph is getting a lot of use these days for preemployment
hiring of police officers. It's probably a legitimate use since the person
is a relatively unknown quantity. Any deception indicated would be an
aid in conducting a background investigation. However, if any perceived
deception is, in and of itself, the determining factor for denying
employment, that person becomes the victim of one man's, or woman's,
conclusion.
After you become a police officer, you'll notice that the only time a
criminal suspect, or police officer, is asked to take a polygraph
examination is when the investigator has already concluded, by other
investigative methods, that he or she is lying. So, when you hear a
polygraph described as an investigative aid, you might want to take a
closer look at the investigator.
Police
and the
Polygraph
and the
Polygraph
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
 | |  | |  | |  | |  | |  |
Lombroso, the founding father of criminology in 1895, was the first to
experiment with a machine measuring blood pressure and pulse to
record the honesty of criminals. He called it a hydrosphygmograph. A
similar device was used by Harvard psychologist William Marston
during World War I in espionage cases, who brought the technique
into American court systems. In 1921, John Larson added the item of
respiration rate, and by 1939, Leonard Keeler, one of the founding
fathers of forensic science, added skin conductance and an amplifier,
thus signaling the birth of the "polygraph" as we know it today.
experiment with a machine measuring blood pressure and pulse to
record the honesty of criminals. He called it a hydrosphygmograph. A
similar device was used by Harvard psychologist William Marston
during World War I in espionage cases, who brought the technique
into American court systems. In 1921, John Larson added the item of
respiration rate, and by 1939, Leonard Keeler, one of the founding
fathers of forensic science, added skin conductance and an amplifier,
thus signaling the birth of the "polygraph" as we know it today.
| HISTORY OF THE POLYGRAPH |
| ...just a machine |
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