Today was my polygraph “interrogation”, and YES it’s as bad as they say it is. I was so nervous even thought I had nothing to hide. I feel like he was trying to get me to admit to things that could cause me to be disqualified, but than again I guess that’s the point.
It was a long three hours in what I’m sure is the smallest office at the police station.
Everything seemed pretty routine, at lest to me it did. He had me sign some wavers before he started, stating that I agreed to the polygraph and if I didn’t want to answer a question I could end the interview at any time.
After that he explained to me what the components of the polygraph machine are, and went on the talk about how the machine works. Once he established that the machine doesn’t detect lies but rather changes in unconsciously countrolled things in your body we were ready to start.
The pre-interview, was made up of him just asking questions and getting me to open up and feel comfortable and get to talking more as he took notes. We also went over my Personal History Statement that I filled out after my Nelson-Denny test. He had me go over my answers and asked (multiple times) if there was anything I wanted to change. Once we established that I didn’t want to change any of my answers he created a few questions that would be used on the polygraph. After talking with me for about an hour he had enough question to conduct the mock interview. He had me sit in a chair across the table from him and we went over the questions as if I were hooked up. The only difference aside from my not being hooked up was he fully explained the question, going into full detail of what was being asked before I answered the question.
“Have you ever taken anything, or consumed anything from a job that you were not allowed or supposed to?”
“Now by this question we are talking about ANYTHING, a stapler, soda, ANYTHING. Do you understand?” a slight pause “By the way you’ve answered the questions in this packet I feel that you are a pretty honest person and this question should be rather simple.” Pause “So again, have you ever taken anything, or consumed anything from a job that you were not allowed or supposed to?”
Each question was constructed like this. So after we went through all the questions and we both felt comfortable with the questions and the answers he hooked me up and we were off and running.
Before the questioning begins he explained each piece of the machine as he attached the various parts to their intended location.
Once everything was hooked up he explained that the machine needed to get my “normal reading” once he was satisfied with the readings the computer was getting he handed me a clipboard with a blank sheet of paper attached to it, and said to print a number 1 through 8 not 1 and not 8 in the center of the sheet. Once I printed my number he took the clipboard and hung it on the door directly in front of me. A series of questions follows, per his instructions I was to answer “no” to all of the following questions.
“Did you print the number 1 on the paper?”
“No”
Long Pause “Did you print the number 2 on the paper?”
“No”
Long Pause “Did you print the number 3 on the paper?”
“No”
Long Pause “Did you print the number 4 on the paper?”
“No”
Long Pause “Did you print the number 5 on the paper?”
“No”
Ect……
After all eight questions were asked he retrieved a printout from the printer behind him. As he showed me the various line waves he explained the me how the machine detects changes in your body, as even though I was told it was ok to “lie” about what number I printed the polygraph machine was able to detect (pointing to a large spike in the waves) they my fight or flight response kicked in and was registered as a possible false statement.
Once the “real” test began I was instructed to keep my feet flat on the ground and answer the following series of questions truthfully. He conducted three sets of questioning each lasting about five minuets each with a two minuet break in between. I don’t remember the order of each “set” but the questions were all the same just asked in a different order each time.
I don’t remember all of the questions but they were something like this:
Is that door brown?
Is today Tuesday?
Have you ever lied to your current girlfriend?
Have you ever taken anything, or consumed anything from a job that you were not allowed or supposed to?
Have you ever committed any crime, that if found out you could go to prison for?
Are you, or have you ever been a member of a Terrorist, or Separatist group?
Once all three sets of questions were completed he took the print outs into another office leaving me inside the interrogation room for about ten to fifteen minuets.
When he returned to go over my “results” the first thing he said to me was “Is there ANYTHING you wanted to tell me about ANY of the questions we just went over?” I think he was just trying to get me to admit to employment-disqualifying things, to see if he could “bluff” me into thinking that the machine detected something. I knew it had not because I was not lying. So I stuck to my guns and stood by all of my answers.
When we went over the results he explained to me how the test is scored and what they are looking for. All of the important questions came back as truthful statements, but apparently I lie to my girlfriend 
.
I was allowed to break for lunch before my Psychological test, but before I left the polygraph office the interrogator congratulated me and told me that he will type up my letter stating that the polygraph section was completed.
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The selection process consists of ten steps that must be completed in its entirety prior to hiring.
Application AcceptedApplication ScreeningNelson-Denny TestingInitial Background InterviewBackground InvestigationConditional Offer of EmploymentDrug/Alcohol ScreenPhysical Examination- Psychological &
Polygraph Examinations - Final Offer of Employment by the Chief of Police
Filed under: Application Process, Police
