Polygraph

[FutureLE]

I have my polygraph with the agency that gave me a conditional job offer this week. If I pass it, all I have left is the medical/drug screen, and the pysch. These are also scheduled for this week.

Any final advice for the poly--Besides the obvious "Dont lie"

[Ken K]

Wear loose clothing. The respiration band on the chest, galvanic response clips on the hands, and the blood pressure cup are no problem. It's the three prong needle they insert that's a bummer.

[jay222]

What do they need a needle for? I thought the poly only measured heartbeats? Are all polys the same?

[JohnnyV]

Try to get a goodnights sleep! Good luck

[off_kimball]

calm down jay he's screwing with you about the needle. just relax and be honest but no too honest. Even seen goonies where they are about to but Chunk's hand in a blender? yeah he was too honest.
they aren't a 100% just gives a good idea

[FutureLE]

Thanks guys..

One last thing- Generally speaking, how long does the complete poly take?

[Rugger762]

Polygraph's usually take an hour and a half to two hours to complete the whole thing including the questionaire.

Relax, I have taking about a dozen of them for the government and local police deparments. I used to get nervous, and spaz out. Now I just don't give a darn. You know your past. They don't. The best one I ever had was with my current agency. The polygraph examiner retired from Fairfax PD. He stated that all the polygraph does is show that you are honest on your app. Go in, relax and be yourself.

The worst was for VA Beach. What a nightmare and the guy was a real burro.

I have found that if I enjoy the night before, a movie, ballgame, dinner, the next day is usually a piece of cake.

Good luck.

[SEAL6770]

Polygraph's usually take an hour and a half to two hours to complete the whole thing including the questionaire.

Relax, I have taking about a dozen of them for the government and local police deparments. I used to get nervous, and spaz out. Now I just don't give a darn. You know your past. They don't. The best one I ever had was with my current agency. The polygraph examiner retired from Fairfax PD. He stated that all the polygraph does is show that you are honest on your app. Go in, relax and be yourself.

The worst was for VA Beach. What a nightmare and the guy was a real burro.

I have found that if I enjoy the night before, a movie, ballgame, dinner, the next day is usually a piece of cake.

Good luck.

That is good for me to hear, I have a poly for Fairfax County PD Wednesday. Hopefully that examiner rubbed off on a lot of people there.

[karpaasi]

I agree. From my experience (I am not an LEO, but have passed two tests - one polygraph, one voice stress analyzer -), just relax. You shouldn't have anything to sweat unless you have something to sweat . You probably already know this, but the majority of your time will be spent going over questions with the tester. Out of the questions they asked me (my first time they asked me about 85 questions), they only tested me on 15 -20 of those. I had a clean background, and I don't recall whether my polygraph was pre or post BI. There may be factors specific to your situation that will make your testing experience different.

You've heard it before by a million folks, but be honest.

My .02 cents. Oh yeah, and good luck!

[reuters]

I co-authored a free e-book on polygraphs called The Lie Behind the Lie Detector that explains polygraph procedure (based, among other sources, on government documents released under the Freedom of Information Act) as well as how to reduce the risk of a false positive outcome. You can download it here:

http://antipolygraph.org/lie-behind-...e-detector.pdf

One of the questions your polygrapher will ask is "Have you researched any methods in order to beat the poly?" If you answer yes, you are red-flagged from the get-go. If you answer no, the polygrapher will know you're lying.

My advice is, don't try to beat the poly. Just be honest.

[FutureLE]

Well I took the poly today and I PASSED!!!

All that worrying for nothing- LOL

So now its on to the medical and pysch this week and then I will be done...and I can start the academy in October--hopefully

[reuters]

Well I took the poly today and I PASSED!!!

All that worrying for nothing- LOL

So now its on to the medical and pysch this week and then I will be done...and I can start the academy in October--hopefully

Congrats! See, it was nothin!

Good luck on the rest of the hiring process.

[mobrien316]

One of the questions your polygrapher will ask is "Have you researched any methods in order to beat the poly?" If you answer yes, you are red-flagged from the get-go. If you answer no, the polygrapher will know you're lying.

My advice is, don't try to beat the poly. Just be honest.

In my experience the actual question asked was, "Have you done any research or read anything about the polygraph?" Not how to

[FutureLE]

In the pre-test questions, they asked if I had researched how the poly works--to which I said-- Yes... But nothing was asked during the actual test-

Before the 2nd test, we chatted about the poly and CVSA.. He basically told me the poly is only a tool used to get confessions or spook those people who are truly lying into telling on themselves-- and that it cant detect lie--all which I already knew, but I was suprised he told me that.

He didnt do any little tricks before the exam--Just told me how the test worked and what we would do.

I just stared at a spot on the wall, took a breath before and after each response and that was all.

I dont know if my polygrapher was just really cool or what, but it was nothing and I see I was nervous for nothing.

My advice to those who are worried, is not to worry, just go in and think about something that calms you(my son for me) and breeze through the test.


[QUOTE=mobrien316]In my experience the actual question asked was, "Have you done any research or read anything about the polygraph?" Not how to