Police Polygraph Test Questions

Calm down when answering relevant questions. When asked a question relevant to the case or situation, put yourself in a calm state of mind when you answer. By staying as calm as possible, you can prevent many major spikes in your physiological responses.

You will be asked about the following topics during a typical police polygraph or CVSA: Shoplifting or theft of money or merchandise from employer. Illegal drug trafficking or dealing. Illegal drug or medication use, including steroids.

• Did you deliberately tell a lie during your police application?
• Did you tell the complete truth during your police test application?
• Were you ever dismissed from a job?
• Have you committed an undetected crime since the age of [#]?
• Have you been convicted of any crime since the age of [#]?

approximately four hours

Alter breathing rate with control questions. If you react more to a relevant question than to control questions, the polygrapher will perceive (rightly or wrongly) that you are lying in response to something relevant and you will likely fail the polygraph. Change your breathing pattern when a control question is asked.

Occasionally, a suspect will ask to take a test in order to establish his innocence. You are never under any legal obligation to take a lie detector test in a criminal investigation. Even if police tell you the test is mandatory or they threaten you with arrest if you refuse to take one, you don’t have to.

There have been several reviews of polygraph accuracy. They suggest that polygraphs are accurate between 80% and 90% of the time. This means polygraphs are far from foolproof, but better than the average person’s ability to spot lies, which research suggests they can do around 55% of the time.

A simple way to cheat the polygraph is to deliberately distort your physiological readings when telling the truth, such as by biting your tongue, or imagining an embarrassing incident in the past.

Proving the truth after failing a polygraph requires that you present evidence that corroborates your story. If you are unable to provide independent corroboration, you simply can’t prove you are telling the truth. However, you can point out that a polygraph is unreliable; it doesn’t prove you are lying.

Ultimately, it comes down to the examiner as to whether he trusts your responses. It’s entirely possible, of course, that honest people fail the polygraph. After all, the police polygraph exam is stressful. Candidates know that, even if they tell the truth, they may fail the exam.

Subject to restrictions, the Act permits polygraph (a type of lie detector) tests to be administered to certain job applicants of security service firms (armored car, alarm, and guard) and of pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors and dispensers.

Moreover, if you are pregnant or suffer a heart condition, you will not likely be subjected to the polygraph.

Many applicants worry that something like caffeine will hinder their performance on the polygraph. But it’s more likely to hurt you if you drink a cup of coffee every morning, and then skip it the morning of the polygraph. The same goes with prescription medications.

In short, polygraph tests record a number of different bodily responses which can then be used to determine whether someone is telling the truth. So polygraph tests do not measure deception or lying directly, but rather possible signs that a person could be deceiving the interviewer.

Because this method measures physiological symptoms such as heart rate and blood pressure, people using blood pressure medications or medication for heart conditions—such as beta blockers—would not be considered strong candidates for a polygraph exam.

Here is why a person fails a polygraph in order of likeliness: 1) they outright lied to a relevant question. 2) they deliberately omitted relevant information 3) the examiner asked a poor question 4) the examiner failed to properly read his charts 5) the instrument failed to work.

While it is true that some people with abnormal physiology are not suitable for polygraph examinations, it is not accurate to say that anyone with a heart murmur is unsuitable. A competent polygraph examiner will assess a person’s physiology to determine testing suitability at the time of the test.

The following can contribute to false positives: Inebriants like tobacco, alcohol, and drugs will affect a subject’s responses. They may raise or lower blood pressure, increase or lower heart rate, and alter the pulse. Blood Pressure may or may not affect the testing.

They estimate the accuracy of the polygraph to be 87%. That is, in 87 out of 100 cases, the polygraph can accurately determine if someone is lying or telling the truth. That sounds pretty impressive, but it is important to keep in mind that the polygraph is failing 13% of the time.

correct innocent detections ranged from 12.5 to 94.1 percent and averaged 76 percent; false positive rate (innocent persons found deceptive) ranged from O to 75 percent and averaged 19.1 percent; and. false negative rate (guilty persons found nondeceptive) ranged from O to 29.4 percent and averaged 10.2 percent.

We found that intoxication at the time of the crime had no significant effect on polygraph test outcomes, although it did affect anticipatory arousal before the crime and subsequent memory for crime details.

Wrong! While taking a polygraph test can be a strategic element in a well-crafted criminal defense plan, you should not take a lie detector test without consulting with a Michigan criminal defense attorney. Taking a polygraph test, even if you are innocent, can hurt your defense in some cases.

Don’t take sleeping pills, other drugs or drink alcohol as this will invalidate the results. It’s likely that a polygraph examiner will refuse to conduct the test if you have consumed alcohol or taken drugs.

California Laws A to Z Blog Posts: Under California law, a polygraph test is not admissible in court unless all parties agree to admit it into evidence. Police and employers cannot force a suspect, witness or employee to take a polygraph.

The only way to tell for sure if one has “passed” or “failed” a polygraph “test” is when the official results are sent in writing. Even then, in some rare cases, a declaration of “passing” can be rescinded, as it was when Wen Ho Lee was polygraphed (highly unlikely in your case).