Reply #22: Polygraphs are an intimidation tool more than anything else

[jmowreader]

I read once of a police department who had a REALLY stupid subject they caught doing something, but he kept saying he didn't. I think he broke into a house. Anyway, they caught the guy red handed and he kept saying, "I didn't do it, I didn't do it, I didn't do it." So they decided to just fuck with this guy. First, they got a sheet of paper and wrote "You're Lying!" on it in big letters. They put the paper in their copier. Then they brought this asshole in and told him they were going to give him a "lie detector" test. They put a metal salad bowl on his head (quit laughing, it gets better) and put him in a chair next to the copier so he couldn't see the control panel. A cop stood behind him, and another cop started questioning him. Every time the guy told a lie, the cop at the control panel pushed the button and "You're Lying!" came out of the machine. Eventually the guy confessed. It got thrown out of court for witness intimidation--the perp really was stupid enough to believe he was polygraphed.

A real polygraph machine is even less accurate than these cops' homemade one, but a lot of people think those things are so dead-on accurate they're scared shitless of them.