Anastaska 's Key Ideas from Deception Detection
by Charles Clifton

Despite what you might think not all polygraphers are former police officers, military men, private detectives, or CIA agents. Many are just your average high school graduates, college dropouts, or college griduates who realized they could make a lot more money as polygraph examiners than as assistant managers at the local fast-food joint.

In one respect, these types of examiners may treat their examinees more fairly, because they don't have the preconceived notions that seem to be inherent in a lot of former cops, for instance.

One examiner who had been a police officer was captured on a hidden camera saying that he could usually tell within five minutes of meeting a suspect whether or not that suspect was guilty. This is the ultimate in polygrapher arrogance. If the examiner can really make that distinction almost immediately after meeting someone, why does he need the machine?

This is not to say that civilian polygraphers do not make determinations of guilt before the test has even been run ー they do. It's human nature.