The police want me to take a polygraph – what should I do?

You may be aware that polygraph examinations are generally not admissible in court. While the results of the exam are not admissible, anything you say during the exam is admissible.

The reason that the police want you to take the exam has very little to do with the results of the exam. Polygraph examiners are very skilled interrogators. The primary focus of a polygraph examination is the post-poly interview. During this interview, the examiner is going to try to extract incriminating statements or a complete confession. The examiner will confront you with the “results” of the exam and tell you that he knows you’re not being completely truthful.

If the examiner doesn’t call you a complete liar, he is going to tell you how parts of your story don’t add up and how the polygraph machine indicates that you’re not being completely truthful. He’ll use this technique to get you to change parts of your story into a version that fits the police theory of how the crime was committed.

When scheduling the polygraph, lately we’ve seen the police discourage people from consulting with lawyers first. There is no good reason that the police should try to discourage you from meeting with a lawyer first. If a police officer says you don’t need a lawyer, you most certainly do.

Before submitting to a police polygraph examination, contact the lawyers at Blanchard Law to discuss how to handle your case. (616) 773-2945.