Saturday, April 11, 2015

How To Defeat a How to Beat a Polygraph Test Expert

This is an article from the NY Times magazine with simple in instructions on how to beat a polygraph test by a former polygrapher.

Analytical Interviewing can teach the polygrapher how to defeat this advice.  Note the agenda of the subject.  With Analytical Interviewing, the test will be fool proof.

Do you know how a polygrapher today can gain 100% effectiveness?

How to Beat a Polygraph Test




“A polygraph is nothing more than a psychological billy club used to coerce and intimidate people,” says Doug Williams, a former Oklahoma City police detective and polygraph examiner who for 36 years has trained people to pass the lie-detector test. The first step is not to be intimidated. Most tests include two types of questions: relevant ones about a specific incident (“Did you leak classified information to The New York Times?”) and broader so-called control questions (“Have you ever lied to anyone who trusted you?”). The test assumes that an innocent person telling the truth will have a stronger reaction to the control questions than to the relevant ones. Before your test, practice deciphering between the two question types. “Go to the beach” when you hear a relevant question, Williams says. Calm yourself before answering by imagining gentle waves and warm sand.
When you get a control question, which is more general, envision the scariest thing you can in order to trigger physiological distress; the polygraph’s tubes around your chest measure breathing, the arm cuff monitors heart rate and electrodes attached to you fingertips detect perspiration. What is your greatest fear? Falling? Drowning? Being buried alive? “Picture that,” Williams says. He used to advise trainees to clench their anus but has since concluded that terrifying mental imagery works better.

Williams, who is 69, may be among the more vitriolic critics of polygraphs, which he refers to as “insidious Orwellian instruments of torture,” but their reliability has long been questioned elsewhere, too. Federal legislation prohibits most private employers from using polygraphs. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that lower courts can ban them as evidence, and the scientific community has repeatedly raised concerns about their ability to accurately detect lies. Still, the federal government and state and local law-enforcement agencies continue to administer them. Last November, the Justice Department charged Williams with witness tampering after he gave his polygraph tutorial to undercover agents posing as federal-job applicants who had engaged in illegal activities. Even with a looming court date, Williams is coaching clients and crusading against “this dangerous myth of lie detection.” The government, he says, is really after him for exposing the test’s fallibility: “I’ve made them look like fools and con men.”

3 comments:

Tania Cadogan said...

If you are innocent and have nothing to worry about, why would you need to try and beat a polygraph?

Statement Analysis Blog said...

Good question, Hobs.

Another question:

Why would ex-lawenforcement want to make money off of teaching people how to beat a polygraph?

Peter

Tania Cadogan said...

Peter Hyatt said...

Good question, Hobs.

Another question:

Why would ex-lawenforcement want to make money off of teaching people how to beat a polygraph?

Peter

April 11, 2015 at 3:43 PM


An excellent question Peter.

On reading your question my mind went along the lines of wondering if he has coached people prior to taking a polygraph whilst he was in law enforcement for a 'donation' or if he has conspired with criminals to pervert the course of justice, obstruct the course of justice or turned a blind eye to a crime or crimes, in other words, a dirty cop.

The idea didn't come from nowhere, the acts didn't come from nowhere.

At some point something occurred which made him decide to teach people how to pass a poly.

Was this from personal experience?
Did he fail a poly and if so concerning what?

Was this experienced by a family member or friend?
Did they fail a poly and if so concerning what?

Is this perhaps his revenge?

A good honest officer in law enforcement is not going to decide on leaving the force to help people beat the polygraph and thus avoid justice or obtain a dishonest advantage in an interview, perhaps with a view later on of committing a crime in the workplace such as theft.
it would be counter to everything he was taught and everything he believed in.

A good cop expects truth and honesty and will not conspire to aid mistrust and dishonesty.
If he allowed such an individual to get the job or escape justice it would be forever niggling his mind, he would feel himself to be an aider and abettor to a criminal act be it theft of physical or intellectual property from an employer or evading justice for a criminal act.
He would feel guilt for letting a crime occur, for not preventing something from happening.

Good cops would not consider helping a possible criminal, a bad cop however, would have no problem helping a possible criminal especially for a financial reward.
If he can do it when he left the force, could he have done it whilst he was in the force?

Personally, i would be checking his background to see if there were unexpected results in cases he was involved in, if he seemed to have a better standard of living than expected, i would be looking for the unexpected.