**UPDATE** After over a month they finally scheduled my interview for March 25th @ 7:45 PM.
I go in on Wednesday to take the polygraph test for my job application at the local Police Department. Has anyone here taken one before? Feel free to share your experience.
Edit:
I just got back from my polygraph exam, and I passed . Here's a description of the process. It may appear a little long, but it is very interesting. It is. No really, it is.
I walked into the PD still wearing my winter hat & gloves with my jacket (it's about -25F right now) and was told to wait for the Detective. He opened the door and made a comment about my "goofy" hat, which I was no longer wearing...no doubt trying to give me the impression that he can see everything. He lead me into a small room and I was instructed to sit on a large chair with a sensor on the seat. I was facing a two-way mirror, with the equipment on a desk to my right. I was read my Miranda rights and signed a form stating that fact. I was then hooked up to the machine (straps on stomach & chest, blood pressure cuff on arm, sweat-detecting straps on fingers) and asked a few background/crime related questions (without the machine on).
The Detective then moved over to the desk and put some information into a laptop before the test began. He began with an exercise that had me choose a number between 2 & 6, write it on a piece of paper, and put the paper under my leg. He then had me say "no" to the question "did you chose __" using numbers 1-7. After I did that, he asked me to be truthful. He immediately asked about #3, which was correct. He then showed me the graph, and where I said 3 there was a HUGE jump, even though I thought I felt pretty even when I answered.
Then the real test began. I had to answer 2 sets of 10 questions, twice a piece. There was at least 30 seconds between each question, and some of them were repeated multiple times. There were base questions about my name and location, as well as questions about theft, drugs, and lying. After all the charts were complete, he left the room to add up the scores while I filled out another form. I assume he went behind the mirror to observe me, so I took my time with the form and read through it while he was gone. He came back in and showed how my results added up. For each question there are 4 or 5 different physical readings, marked by + (truthful), 0 (inconclusive, or - (negative). They are tallied and if it comes to +1 or better you pass. I did.
After the test I had my picture taken (front and side) and was fingerprinted. After that I was free to go. Any questions?
I go in on Wednesday to take the polygraph test for my job application at the local Police Department. Has anyone here taken one before? Feel free to share your experience.
Edit:
I just got back from my polygraph exam, and I passed . Here's a description of the process. It may appear a little long, but it is very interesting. It is. No really, it is.
I walked into the PD still wearing my winter hat & gloves with my jacket (it's about -25F right now) and was told to wait for the Detective. He opened the door and made a comment about my "goofy" hat, which I was no longer wearing...no doubt trying to give me the impression that he can see everything. He lead me into a small room and I was instructed to sit on a large chair with a sensor on the seat. I was facing a two-way mirror, with the equipment on a desk to my right. I was read my Miranda rights and signed a form stating that fact. I was then hooked up to the machine (straps on stomach & chest, blood pressure cuff on arm, sweat-detecting straps on fingers) and asked a few background/crime related questions (without the machine on).
The Detective then moved over to the desk and put some information into a laptop before the test began. He began with an exercise that had me choose a number between 2 & 6, write it on a piece of paper, and put the paper under my leg. He then had me say "no" to the question "did you chose __" using numbers 1-7. After I did that, he asked me to be truthful. He immediately asked about #3, which was correct. He then showed me the graph, and where I said 3 there was a HUGE jump, even though I thought I felt pretty even when I answered.
Then the real test began. I had to answer 2 sets of 10 questions, twice a piece. There was at least 30 seconds between each question, and some of them were repeated multiple times. There were base questions about my name and location, as well as questions about theft, drugs, and lying. After all the charts were complete, he left the room to add up the scores while I filled out another form. I assume he went behind the mirror to observe me, so I took my time with the form and read through it while he was gone. He came back in and showed how my results added up. For each question there are 4 or 5 different physical readings, marked by + (truthful), 0 (inconclusive, or - (negative). They are tallied and if it comes to +1 or better you pass. I did.
After the test I had my picture taken (front and side) and was fingerprinted. After that I was free to go. Any questions?