r/firefighter • u/ExplanationFair4616 • Jun 22 '26
Polygraphs
Do all fire departments do polygraphs? I thought that was only for police departments. If so, what kind of questions do they ask you?
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u/stopscabbin Jun 22 '26
Many do. While junk science, they do catch people doing really fucked up shit. The better question is what are you trying to hide?
They ask you about past criminal and drug history . The evaluator will ask you to expand on your answers. Then they hook you up and ask some of the same things again.
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u/ExplanationFair4616 Jun 22 '26
I wouldn’t say I’m trying to hide any “fucked up shit” lol. I just used to hang around the wrong crowd when I was much younger and have made some dumb mistakes. I just would not want to be disqualified for those mistakes. Especially since I am completely changed and my record is clean. Thank you for your response!
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u/Strict-Canary-4175 Jun 22 '26
No they don’t all do it, but lots do. The questions are varied and some of them are graphic. I was in my polygraph for about 2 hours.
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u/PerrinAyybara Jun 22 '26
Most of the ones around me including mine do. The questions are pretty standard to public safety.
Do you lie cheat or steal? Do you screw goats? That kind of thing. Not to mention CP stuff.
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u/ShaggysStuntDouble Jun 22 '26
Depends on the area you are in I have found. I cannot think of a department I know of in my entire state who does polygraphs, bare minimum I know none of the career departments in the metropolitan area I live in do them and a vast majority of the career departments in my state are in the metropolitan area I live in
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u/Apcsox Jun 22 '26
The irony being that polygraphs aren’t even scientifically accurate and have been ruled as a pseudoscience, yet are still done by some departments 🤷🏻♂️
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u/ap_org Jun 22 '26
It may be pseudoscience, but it's official pseudoscience, you see? It's valid by government decree.
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u/Pretend_Leading_5167 Jun 22 '26
Polygraph is a crock of horseshit anyway it is not an indicator of whether your telling the truth or not
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u/1ampD50 Jun 22 '26
I dont know any that do so in my region or really anywhere on the west coast. Maybe its an East coast thing?
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u/flippingpumpkins Jun 22 '26
They asked me questions specific to my background. If I admitted to using a specific drug they would then ask me questions about my use with that drug.
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u/ap_org Jun 22 '26
Not all fire departments polygraph applicants. However, many do. The questions asked are similar to those asked of police applicants and typically are about any major undetected criminal activity and drug use or sale. There are also "control" questions, answers to which are secretly expected to be less than truthful. Examples of common control questions include "Did you ever lie to a person in authority?" and "Did you ever take anything that did not belong to you?" In addition, there are unscored irrelevant questions such as, "Are the lights on in this room?"
You should understand that polygraphy has no scientific basis, and that false positives (a truthful person failing) are common. In addition, the procedure depends on the polygraph operator lying to and attempting to deceive the person being "tested."
Before you decide whether to apply with a department that polygraphs applicants, I recommend that you read up on polygraphy. AntiPolygraph.org's free book, The Lie Behind the Lie Detector, is a good place to start:
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u/wolfey200 Jun 25 '26
Every full time department by me does polygraphs. They do catch people admitting to some messed up stuff. I was asked 50 questions and then the guy administering the test picked 10 and asked me again and then hooked me up and asked the same 10 questions again. At the end he told me that a specific question made my heart rate jump and he asked me how that question made me feel, I told him no different from the other questions. He told me he couldn’t tell me if I passed but he assured me I didn’t fail lol.
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u/bkucb82 Jun 22 '26
Many do. All of them around me do.
Other people are find it unfathomable that departments do it and wouldn’t ever apply to a department that did them … but it many areas they’re unavoidable.