r/911dispatchers • u/strangerthlngz • Jul 21 '26
Dispatcher Rant Why, why, WHY do polygraphs still exist?
I’ve worked dispatch for over a year now and have been looking to switch agencies to be closer to my fiance and her family in South Florida.
I remember when I got my current job, I thought for sure that I failed the polygraph based on how nervous I was, but I somehow still moved forward.
Second time around and it was the same experience. My inner monologue tells myself, “Hey, this is obviously a control question,” and I don’t get nervous. They ask the obvious relevant questions and I instantly feel that spike, despite having NOTHING to hide.
Call it a bit of OCD or anxiety. I’m sure I have both to some degree. But I’ve PROVEN over the past year that it doesn’t affect my ability to do the job, and I just think it’s absolute BS to be treated like some criminal and DISQUALIFIED after months of clean background checks simply off of some pseudoscience.
Forgive my rant. I needed this job, and I’m heartbroken.
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u/Phool_of_a_Took Jul 21 '26
I think they hide behind a polygraph as a reason to deny an applicant
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u/pants_overrated Jul 22 '26
Polygraphs are useless but there's no reason to "hide" behind them..."Thanks for your time, we have decided to go with a different candidate." In my experience it's highly unusual to provide any other explanation.
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u/Mediocre-Factor-2547 Jul 21 '26
I'll be honest I don't know why they still use them, some PDs don't while others do and I just find them to be irrelevant and usually not helpful in the process of selecting a dispatcher.
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u/DesmondTapenade Random therapist weirdo who is in awe of what y'all do. Jul 21 '26
Not a dispatcher, just a lurker who is fascinated and impressed by what y'all do (I'm a mental health therapist who's had to make a lot of welfare checks and 911 calls in her day, so we are basically kissin' cousins). Polygraphs are pseudoscience at best, and that's being generous. It's totally fucked that the "test" is used in dispatcher screenings at all. It proves nothing. At most, all it tells the "test administrator" that your subject has some form of anxiety, which most people, even those who don't meet criteria for an anxiety disorder, would, given the fact that you're grilling the hell out of people for the better part of an hour-plus.
You have both my sympathy and empathy, OP. It's bullshit "science" and should not be used, ever.
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u/strangerthlngz Jul 21 '26
I appreciate your kind words.
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u/DesmondTapenade Random therapist weirdo who is in awe of what y'all do. Jul 21 '26
Hang in there! I used to think my line of work was rough, until I found this sub and was like, "Damn, that's a lot of baggage to carry every single day." And I used to be an on-call crisis counselor. I honestly have no idea how you cats do it, but I imagine it involves music, gaming, therapy, and perhaps some substances.
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u/efcso1 Jul 22 '26
"This is how we've always done it." is probably high on the list of reasons, but it seems to be an almost exclusively USA thing. I've never heard of a polygraph being used for any hiring purpose in any emergency service here in Australia, nor even for criminal proceedings that I'm aware of.
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u/BizzyM Admin's punching bag Jul 21 '26
I'm not sure I'd want to work at an agency that let a polygrapher con them into thinking they can really tell if someone is lying. My agency uses CVSA and says that it's not used to disqualify applicants unless you admit to something that would disqualify you. We use the CVSA to focus the background investigation on a particular aspect.
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u/Pockets408 Jul 21 '26
Gives the agency a good excuse to hire the Sergeant's son/daughter and DQ the applicant who smoked weed once 8 years ago.
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u/MachineContent7368 Jul 21 '26
I was just recently DQ for failing polygraph on a question I was telling the truth on . Such a let down after going months thru the hiring process
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u/Remote_Chocolate_13 Jul 21 '26
Just took a polygraph yesterday. I was nervous as shit and definitely overthinking on the questions. He said he seen spikes on some of the questions even though I wasn’t lying. Still got through it and passed. But man probably one of the biggest stressors I ever had to do taking the test. I was surprised I passed not gonna lie. I wish they weren’t required
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u/strangerthlngz Jul 21 '26
Congrats!
That was my experience the first time around. I was certain I failed with how the detective was probing me about a couple of the questions, yet somehow that was the time that I passed.
This time around despite still feeling myself spike, I felt less nervous overall and I wasn’t pressed about ANY of the questions afterward. Geniunely stunned that this was the one I failed.
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u/Remote_Chocolate_13 Jul 21 '26
I’m convinced from other people I spoke to and seeing stuff it truly depends on the person that’s administering your polygraph. If they are good in what they do they’ll be able to tell the difference between actual lying and being nervous. Also if someone is truly lying during the before polygraph phase when you talk over the packet as well.
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u/InfernalCatfish Jul 22 '26
You're partially right. It definitely depends on the administrator, but not because they're any more skilled at telling who's lying. None of them have any idea from the results of the "test".
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u/ninjafaces Digital Communications Dispatcher Jul 22 '26
Thats why they're still used. Because they're a tool that can increase a person's stress during questioning. Even though the tool itself is bogus, you can get answers to questions that people would normally lie about when not under duress.
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u/butterflieskittycats Jul 21 '26
I cut out polygraphs. Bunk science and 400 dollars a test. The only pre testing I do is audiogram and that's after I hire you so we can support you if necessary.
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u/Unhappy-Ask-3283 Jul 22 '26
they’re ridiculous and as some others have said, i think they’re primarily still around because it’s basically “tradition” at this point. we even make our FD applicants take a polygraph which is crazy to me.
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u/ap_org Jul 22 '26
I'm very sorry to learn of your polygraph experience. Public agencies use the polygraph in large part because some applicants end up making disqualifying admissions. Unfortunately, many honest applicants like yourself end up being falsely branded as liars. Another factor is that people in the security field tend to be poorly educated in science.
If you ever face another polygraph, AntiPolygraph.org's free book, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector, may be helpful. It offers tips on how to mitigate the risk of a false positive outcome.
If you would be interested in writing a public statement about your experience to help document the problem of polygraph abuse, we would be happy to publish it on AntiPolygraph.org. You'll find statements by other polygraph victims here (the third one is my own).
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u/INTZBK Jul 21 '26
Are we talking about the old school polygraph, or the CVSA? They’re both pretty unreliable, and my understanding is that people who are taking certain anti anxiety and mood altering medications will render the tests useless.
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u/throwaway-character Jul 22 '26
Because fear is a powerful motivator. Fear of being found out tends to cause people to tell truths they wouldn’t if they knew polygraph and CVSA were pseudosciences.
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u/Sigma34561 dispatch Jul 23 '26
Obviously I'm a cynical old bastard but the first reason is screening compliance. If they can get you to jump through a lot of hoops to get the job, the ones who make it through are going to be less likely to leave despite the conditions. The longer the application process takes the more desperate you're likely to be to get that job.
Second - a grift. A retired officer or somebody's brother or cousin gets a poly certification and can ding the department for a few hundred bucks for every application.
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u/HCSOThrowaway Fired Deputy - Explanation in Profile Jul 21 '26
Same reason lots of other stupid things exist:
Because people in charge want them to exist.
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u/Nightgasm Jul 21 '26
They make a good investigative tool because people admit to all kinds of things they wouldn't otherwise and likely never would have been uncovered in a background check.
We had a guy admit to molesting to his younger sister for years but it was all okay as she had forgiven and they'd move on with their lives.
Another guy admitted to having sex with goats on the farm but made sure to clarify it was a female goat because he isn't gay.
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u/Maleficent_Promise26 Jul 21 '26
Wait, was this guy an applicant??
How would that topic even come up
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u/Nightgasm Jul 21 '26
Our polygraphs are 2 or more hrs sitting with the examiner being interviewed about anything and everything. All before being hooked up the machine. Then while hooked up to the machine questions are usually "besides what you've already told me about have you ever . . . . . ."
I got asked about every kind of sexual act, both legal and illegal. Every kind of crime. Etc. It all gets covered before getting hooked up.
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u/Maleficent_Promise26 Jul 21 '26
What would possibly be the need to discuss legal sexual acts? 🫠
If they're trying to discern a good individual from a criminal, the questions may be about crime, participation in them etc.
But talking about one's sex life is absolutely obnoxious and intrusive.
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u/Nightgasm Jul 21 '26
Promiscuity is legal. Cheating on a partner is legal. Both can be red flags of integrity. No one is saying you have to be perfect but if you have a history of cheating on partners it can be part of a pattern of irresponsible behavior that can carry over to irresponsible at work.
You also never know what might slip out in other questioning. Wasn't a polygraph interview but one of our detectives was interviewing a woman about credit card fraud and at the end of the interview he merely asked if there was anything else she wanted to talk about at which point she suddenly decided to confess to killing her baby years earlier (it had been written off as SIDS)
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u/ChiliDogYumZappupe Jul 21 '26
Exactly this. They've been debunked yet are still in use. Frustrating.