The Polygraph Profession 'WatchDog'
Complaints and Reports
Observations, Questions, and Data from polygraph
examiners, polygraph students, and polygraph clients:
The 5 most
common lies told by
polygraph examiners to prospective clients:
1) "I
use a computerized polygraph".
(said by some who only have old
analogs)
2) "The exam will take X hours".
(Many examiners say double
the time it will really take)
3) "I am a Dr./PhD".
(There are several
who have diploma-mill titles)
4) "I've done XXXX polygraph
exams".
(One was embarrassed in court when found lying)
5) "I've done
polygraphs for XX years".
(a timeline shows the lies)
A proper
training foundation is better than having to lie.
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Here's a scary fact: most examiners who claim to be 'Certified' get
& keep that title through one small group that requires only that every
year they have 12 hours of education, WITH NO TEST GIVEN;
Yes, that's only one hour per month, with no testing or scoring,
in a high-tech profession that has continual changes & improvements!
Sadly, in an attempt to improve the quality of examiners, one
nationwide polygraph organization has suggested raising it to 15!
If Required Continuing Education is a primary difference between
a 'trade' and a 'profession', then these numbers are a disgrace.
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The 'Phonies & Hypocrites Club':
Although their website claims
'. . education of the polygraph community . . ',
the truth was shown when a small polygraph
organization recently offered a 2-day training seminar.
The state in which this group is based,
which is also where the seminar was held,
has about a half-dozen polygraph training schools.
Graduates of all of these schools are serving the public today.
Only graduates of two of those six polygraph schools were allowed to attend
the 2-day seminar; graduates from the other schools were not allowed.
Not exactly a 'brotherhood', or a 'dedication to improving the profession'!
If the group had its own telephone number,
(it doesn't; it is far too small and inactive to need one)
perhaps we could call them and help them correct the error.
Note: this same group 'Certifies' its members as long as
they attend just 12 hours of polygraph education per year--
BUT it requires that these 12 hours include attending (and paying for)
this group's own yearly 2-day seminar: or no 'Certification'!
Such self-serving requirements are shameful,
but that group would be forgotten without them.
Such disgusting 'politics' have no part in a profession.
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Materials from some schools still tell that certain
breathing
patterns indicate LYING, while newest DACA research shows
that
those same breathing patterns do NOT indicate deception.
OUCH- this could be causing some examinees to be falsely
failed!
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Nearly 10 clients in the past two years have reported
that one certain polygraph examiner solicited sex from
them in exchange for guaranteed 'passing' of their exam.
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Not all polygraph schools are
equal:
Some schools secretly get a $1000 commission each time a
student buys
a certain brand of polygraph instrument, so they will not be
introducing
you to the other brands! Some might just 'shame' or 'push' a
student into
returning his/her new and perfectly-good computerized
instrument
and then to buy one that the school gets that large commission
on.
Other brands might have better features;
others offer student
discounts and financing.
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Lack of integrity:
Examiners are ethically required to not participate in any exam
that they have either an interest in or a conflict-of-interest in.
During discovery in a civil matter, it was learned that the polygraph testing
used in the defense of the management personnel being sued was conducted
by an examiner who was the cousin of the management personnel tested.
Despite the report saying that management was truthful,
the hidden-but-discovered relationship killed all credibility.
The other side used a polygraph examiner with no improper relationship.
The other side won.
NOTE: The offending examiner had graduated
from an 'approved' polygraph school a year before.
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Not all polygraph schools are
equal:
Recently, a complete review was made of a set
of every hand-out,
guide, study-sheet, notes, etc,
--virtually the complete & entire
curriculum--
from a recent class of a respected full-term
'approved by an
association' polygraph academy;
OUCH- the quality
was terrible.
Other than pieces provided by visitors or 'guest
instructors',
it was mostly hundreds of pages of dull, black-on-white
photocopies,
many off-centered and/or originally printed using
an
outdated typewriter instead of modern fonts and printers.
Hard to read;
tiny print; boring and 'hard on the eyes'.
Some were dated more than 25 years
ago.
And NOTHING regarding the 'business end' of polygraphy.
The
depressing lack of color and/or photographs made for
a far-less enjoyable
learning situation, and is far-less likely
to ever be seriously re-read in
the future. We learn 'visually', and those
materials were sub-standard for a
modern learning environment.
Poor materials make for useless later
review;
perhaps this is why so many of their students need
to later pay
this school for a 'refresher course'.
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From a published report in a legal magazine,
written by
a polygraph examiner with 40 years experience,
who taught at the US
Government polygraph academy and who now
works with polygraph licensing
bureaus and polygraph schools
(and he has been a full-member of (XXX) for more than 30 years):
"The XXXXXXX Polygraph Association (XXX) in all appearance should be
the watchdog of the
industry, but it is no more than a trade association
with minimal
standards as to what a polygraph school should teach.
The XXX scratches the surface with school inspections and student
review.
As a matter of fact, the XXX was
denied authority by the Department of
Education for academically
accrediting polygraph schools, therefore,
the XXX possesses little or no authority
to
endorse a post-secondary educational
institution".
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Why have so many
polygraph 'instructors' NEVER
operated a successful polygraph agency
of their own?!
If they never supported their family by obtaining and
satisying
polygraph clients, how in the world can they teach someone else
to?!
The truth is, almost every polygraph examiner you will ever
meet has
NOT ever paid his/her bills with a 'polygraph business':
instead, he/she
either has a 'real' job, a pension, or a working spouse!
Why? The work IS
there and available-- you just need to direct it to YOU.
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Not all
polygraph schools are equal:
A sad 'secret'-
Many good polygraph
examiners write terrible reports.
Per the director who approves
examiners to receive referrals
for polygraph examinations from the nationwide
polygraph network Polygraph Examiners Of
America
(www.peoa.US), they are required to review a sample report
from
every member before they can receive a referral.
Some excellent examiners
are found to be producing a
final work product, their written report, that is
so poor
that it lessens the value of their work. These reports,
read later
by other persons, do not reflect the skill of
the examiner. Instead, some
wrongly look like amateurs.
Interviewing many polygraph
academy
graduates revealed a common statement:
"In school, we didn't spend
much time on writing reports".
And some schools spent NO time on report
writing!
When a completed examination is later being discussed,
you
are not there: your report is standing there for you.
A crummy report
could mean that your client wasted the money.
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Not all
polygraph schools are equal:
Again, a complete review was conducted of a
set
of every hand-out, guide, study-sheet, notes, etc,
--virtually the
complete & entire curriculum--
from a recent class of ANOTHER respected
full-term
'but NOT approved by a polygraph organization' polygraph
academy.
Far better than it's 'approved by a polygraph organization'
competitor!
Yet, it still could be greatly improved,
and NOTHING about
operating a polygraph BUSINESS.
(To be fair, most schools are NOT going
to teach any polygraph 'business';
they are there to prepare you to work FOR
a polygraph examiner).
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Just wondering what the difference is:
Why would a polygraph
organization
'approve' a 2-week course in South America,
but require
FOUR-TIMES that when it is done in the US?!
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Why did the top polygraph examiner in a
major police department's
polygraph unit get demoted and lose his supervisor
position?
Complaints from examinees and from his own
employees!
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Not all polygraph schools are equal:
Many
polygraph academy graduates do not know
anything about 'countermeasures'
because their 'instructor'
told them that there is "no such thing as a
countermeasure-
there are no ways to even try to alter a polygraph's
results".
He teaches this despite the strong industry training
and
seminars teaching the many cheat-methods being
used.
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Not all
polygraph schools are equal:
Recently, complaints to a state
school-licensing
bureau about another high-volume polygraph
academy
produced yells of 'Fraud!'.
This school had been
advertising that they were providing
students with even more hours of
training than a polygraph organization's
recommended guideline polygraph
training hours.
This school had submitted a very specific curriculum
of
polygraph training to the state, including exactly how many
hours would
be spent on each topic. The state approved this
polygraph class, 'to be
taught AS SUBMITTED & APPROVED'.
Instead, it was alleged that:
--
most classroom materials used were VERY poor --
-- there were giving less
than 1/3 the promised hours --
-- a past instructor had been told by the
school owner:
"Don't teach them so much, or they will become our competitors"
--
-- most 'graduates' there never again touched a polygraph --
-- the
current 'instructor' had little real-world polygraph experience --
--a past
guest-instructor had been told by the school owner:
"Even though the students
were only here for a few hours,
write 8am to 5pm next to each of their names"
(he refused)--
-- school staff openly slandered competitors and past students
--
As most students there were injured in their past jobs,
and
attended here only due to the recommendation of their
Workers Compensation
Vocational Rehabilitation counselors,
many students --and insurance
companies-- were 'ripped off'.
A polygraph organization publicly
criticized the school owner,
about the lack of hours, in the polygraph
organization's publication.
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Perhaps why the website of a bigger old polygraph organization
had its 'Contact A Member' section down the first half of 2007:
1) While that group had been claiming to have nearly
3000 members, it was revealed by counting each member
in that portion of the website, state-by-state, every state,
that it added up to be far closer to 500!
Where are all the others?!
2) Nearly 1/3 of the contact e-mail address were not valid!
Removing the 'Contact A Member' section of their website has
likely cost their dues-paying members many paid examinations.
Update 7/2007:
this portion of the website is now back up:
a fresh count adds up to about 100!
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Not all polygraph schools are equal:
Recently, a complete
review was made of a set
of every hand-out, guide, study-sheet, notes,
etc,
--virtually the complete & entire curriculum--
from a recent
class of DACA
(Defense Academy for Credibility Assessment),
the Federal
government polygraph academy previously
known as DoD-PI (Department of
Defense Polygraph Institute).
Very good - orderly
and well-researched. But 'dry'.
No photographs. No
color; all black and white photocopies.
And it is based on the type of
exams conducted by government
examiners-- where in most situations, the
examinee is required
to submit to the exam. So, the DACA materials are
excellent for
that, but are lacking in training for the many variables
encountered
in private-sector exams (and of course, no polygraph 'business'
materials).
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Two more polygraph academies went out of business recently,
both
in areas where there is a shortage of private polygraph examiners.
Perhaps if
their past students had received better materials, ? ? ? ?
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Don't we need to trust those 'approving' the polygraph
school?:
When one school was undergoing their 'approval visit',
they tell that they were told to
"Get rid of Instructor XXXXX; he does not meet our
standards;
I can't approve you until you do".
But months later, Instructor
XXXXX starts his own school,
and he is approved by the same person!
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Trying to
'fluff up' the 'hours of teaching',
some schools advertise that their
schedule
includes TEN to FIFTEEN hours
on 'History of
Lie-Detection'.
Do you think that you that you will be a better
polygraph examiner by knowing how the ancient Indians
or the Salem Witch
Trials did lie-detection?!!!
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The 2 most common
compaints made to school
licensing boards about polygraph academies:
1.
Many less class-room hours than per catalog
(if you attend one, keep a
log:
they can be ordered to give you back a % of your $!)
2. No 'jobs'
that were implied by their staff
(when being 'sold' on the school, they
either offer 'placement'
or tell you that gov't agencies will be looking to
hire you!)
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Not all
polygraph schools are equal:
(Two similar examples-- see what the sad common
denominator is!)
1) Recently, a person was ready
to sign up to attend
a 'respected' polygraph academy in a major city, one
that is
'approved by a polygraph organization'. He had cash ready.
But
the school's 'intake person' told him that "there is no work
available for
private polygraph examiners, so unless a police
department is ready to send
you to this school, just forget it".
This is in a state with a
shortage of private examiners!
2) Students at
another school in the same major city area were
often told: "There is no work
for private examiners; get a
government agency to hire you, as the public is
not a source of work",
The sad common denominator:
Both schools are
owned by private examiners who have
good business income from the public, and
they don't
want their own students taking away their
business!
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Earning 'extra credit' at a
polygraph school?!
OUCH! Complaints to the school licensing board
about a
polygraph academy where the instructor
asks women students to meet him after
school in
the motel room across the street from the school
(where he
stays during the school week).
He even asked them to bring their own
liquor!
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Would you like to be taught by a 'guest
instructor'
who smokes marijuana during class-room breaks?!
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Not all
polygraph schools are equal:
Regarding the instructor at an
'approved by
a polygraph organization' school:
Has he been approved to be an
instructor by either that same
polygraph organization OR by the state school
licensing board?!
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NOTE: a polygraph organization recently revealed
a
disturbing fact: many PCSOT 'instructors' teaching
at 'approved 40-hour PCSOT
courses' actually have
litle or NO real-life experience in
actually
conducting this type of exam!
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Not all polygraph
schools are equal:
Another long-time instructor at
a
respected/'approved' polygraph academy
is no longer there, now replaced
by a
younger and far-less experienced
-but better- instructor. Wonder
why?
Could it be that many reviews completed
by graduating students
contained complaints
that the old instructor continually boasted,
actually
sometimes many times every day,
that he himself was the best examiner
anywhere
while often including insults about his
competitors?!
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Injured,
and thinking about learning polygraph?
One polygraph academy was said to have
been
turned down for 'approval by a polygraph organization'
because of
their 'accepting re-hab students'.
Not exactly
ADA-compliant!
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Sleazy behavior by a
couple of polygraph academy owners:
Some instrument manufacturers sell
complete new polygraph instrument
packages to schools for only about
$1500, with the promise by the
schools to NEVER sell them; they are
super-discounted only to be used at
the school, in hopes that students will
like that brand and then order
them for the full regular price of $6000 for
the same package.
Well, some schools have ordered several at about $1500
each,
then re-sold some or all of these school instruments to
their
students at prices from $3000 to $5000. Unsuspecting students
don't
know, until a warranty repair or an upgrade is needed.
Note: some schools
are authorized sellers of instruments,
making a $1000 or more commission on
each sale, which
explains why they push a lesser brand than the
best.
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Don't count on the class dates listed
on a school's website:
many schools quietly 'skip' scheduled class dates,
entire 8 or 9 week blocks,
when there were not enough students to 'make it
worth it';
this often happens AFTER you have paid and have
arranged to be
off work for those entire months!
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Why does one polygraph
'instructor' lie to
the excited new students at the 'approved by
a
polygraph organization' school he teaches for,
telling them "I charge $2000
for a polygraph exam"?
The truth: he really charges 1/5 of that:
$400!
It is improper to lie to students, giving those students
unreasonable expectations about possible future
earnings.
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Not all
polygraph schools are equal:
Another example of FRAUD when it
comes to
advertised hours of training;
BUT this time, it is to deceive the very
'polygraph organization'
who granted them 'Approved by a polygraph
organization' status!
This school is advertising that they are providing
the
students with the hours of training per the organization's
recommended
guideline polygraph training hours.
Admitting to the students that it
would be less hours per day
than the posted schedule, they actually told the
students:
"We won't tell (that polygraph organization) if you
don't"!
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Not all polygraph
schools are equal:
Why was one 'respected' polygraph academy
recently
quietly for sale for years;
unsold for years, what event made it's
value
suddenly become far, far less?!
Update: it finally sold, in 2007, to the
instructor there!
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Why are most graduates of 8-week polygraph academies,
one year
after graduating, NOT in the polygraph business?!
©2007 PEOA.US