On many occasions I have cautioned potential clients to check that their examiners have been professionally trained and commit to continual professional development training, to maintain the most up to date knowledge of advances in polygraph testing. Both the American Polygraph Association (APA) and British Polygraph Association (BPA) registered examiners all comply with that high standard and checking with those organisations is essential to protect any client or examinee who intends to take a polygraph exam.
What concerns me are the spurious claims made on certain polygraph sites which either intentionally intend to deceive at worst or simply mislead at best, a potential client, examinee or prospective trainee examiner.
There are only two genuinely recognised polygraph organisations in the UK who are both recognised by the world leading polygraph association, the APA. Those organisations are the British Polygraph Association and the British and European Polygraph Associations. If you are considering either booking a polygraph examination or polygraph training, then to protect yourself and ensure the examiner is professionally trained by an internationally acknowledged training provider, please log onto either of those sites and search the members section to confirm your examiner is a true professional.
I have seen websites that claim to be members of Polygraph Societies which, my extensive contacts in the UK polygraph world will confirm has never been heard of, if it exists at all. All sorts of logos adorn the site, known of which are of any relevance to the polygraph profession. Even more concerning is that if the companies or examiners were genuine, why would they not want to join long standing and internationally recognised organisations in their own country, such as the BPA or BEPA? The criteria for joining either organisation are quite transparent. An examiner must have been trained at an APA approved School or Academy, be accepted as a member or the APA, commit to continual professional training and be honest and of good standing. All of which should be the basic requirements for any examiner. So, you can understand my concerns when spurious logos seem more important than genuine memberships of real organisations.
My attention has also been recently drawn to training providers purporting to supply polygraph training at all levels remotely over the internet in a distance learning model. Please, please, please, do not waste your money on this style of training. The APA have long considered the distance learning model of delivery for polygraph training and they, the world leading authority and training accreditation organisation have clearly stated as policy, that they would not approve distance learning as a credible way of training polygraph students. These courses are targeted to attract you by offering training at a ridiculously low price – for a basic course, and then tempting you with a menu of additional qualifications. Neither the basic nor any other of the advanced courses delivered as distance learning models will qualify you for anything that will ever be recognised by a professional association. In fact all you will get is a non-compliant training module probably followed by you being awarded a certificate of with a bright big stamp on it, so it looks special. Well it is special. You should frame it and put it on your wall to remind you of how much of your time an money you have wasted. So again please, please, protect yourself and your hard earned money.
If you are interested in training to be a professional polygraph examiner then search the internet for an APA approved provider or contact the BPA for advice. Our company moto is “do the right thing when no one is looking” not all polygraph providers do the same.
