The Relevant Issue - #114 - A Concerned Polygraphist

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The Relevant Issue
http://www.polygraphplace.com

Issue #114 - January 1, 2005

Relevant Issue Archives:
http://www.polygraphplace.com/articles

____________________________________________________________

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. EDITORIAL: "Do you need an excellent teacher/speaker
at your next seminar? I know a good one."

2 FEEDBACK: "What have you liked about this newsletter
and what would you like to see more of in 2005?"

3. IN THE FORUMS:

PUBLIC FORUM: "For whatever reason, the polygraph
questions pertaining to drugs make me think of someone
getting high, the crime question about something
getting shot or attacked (I actually saw a gun fire a
time or two in my mind), and the verification that the
information I provided made me think of someone
purposefully turning in falsified/false forms and
snickering about it..."

EXAMINERS ONLY FORUM: "Happy New Year! I am not an APA
member and can not buy insurance through their
program. Do any of you have any good referrals? What
kind of rates are out there?"

There are now 129 examiners registered to use the
private forum.

4. FEATURE ARTICLE: "A concerned Polygraphist sent me
a letter authored by the National Training Center of
Polygraph Science"

5. UPCOMING SEMINARS: Is your state association having
a seminar anytime in the year 2005?
Please send me the details so we can let everyone
know.

NATIONAL POLYGRAPH ASSOCIATION January 2005
ISRAELI POLYGRAPH ASSOCIATION January 2005
MARYLAND POLYGRAPH ASSOCIATION February 2005

____________________________________________________________

1. EDITORIAL: "Do you need an excellent teacher/speaker
at your next seminar? I know a good one."

My good Friend Dick Hickman has had to put down his
polygraph instrument after 40 years of service, but he
is eager to ramp up his speaking and teaching.

He has spoken and taught polygraph schools in the past
and is excited about the extra time he has now to get
even more speaking engagements.

If you've been looking for a speaker for your next seminar,
I wanted to let you know that Dick is available and a
vast source of great polygraph information and expertise.

Read more about Dick on his website and contact him when
you are planning your next seminar.

http://www.southerncaliforniapolygraph.com

*********************************************************

I have also decided to make myself available for speaking
engagements/question panels in the upcoming year.

Obviously I'm a new polygraph examiner, but I have
seven years experience in how to market a business
offline and online.

My specialty would be in giving private examiners and also
recently retired Law Enforcement and Government examiners
the information and tools they need to set up and get
their new career started in the private sector.

This will be a fresh, interesting topic to many in your
associations. Let's be honest, the private examiner's
needs pretty much get overlooked in most associations.
I want to be an advocate for them and would love to
see the private industry catch up to the level of
work that is done in Law Enforcement and Government.

Literally, my long term goal is to create a market for
polygraph in mainstream business where only a trace of
one exists now.

Let me know if this is of interest to you and together
let's help ALL of those in your associations.

Ralph Hilliard
Owner - PolygraphPlace.com
770.794.1325
mailto:support@polygraphplace.com

____________________________________________________________

2. FEEDBACK: "What have you liked about this newsletter
and what would you like to see more of in 2005?"

The Relevant Issue and the Examiner Private Forums have
seen tremendous growth this year. I'd like to ask you
all to please take a moment and send me a short
testimonial on what you have liked most about this
newsletter. I want to use these comments to encourage
other examiners to sign up when I see them at seminars
throughout the year. So please let me know if it is okay
to quote your comments in my print advertising.

A request of equal importance to me is to ask you to send
me your comments and ideas of how we can improve the
newsletter and/or website in the coming year. What sort
of material would you like to see more of? What services
are examiners in need of that we might be able to fill?

To respond to either or both of the requests above,
simply hit your reply button and type away. If you are
reading this online, then you can send me an email at
mailto:support@polygraphplace.com

Thanks so much to you all for a terrific year.

Ralph Hilliard
Owner - PolygraphPlace.com
770.794.1325
mailto:support@polygraphplace.com

____________________________________________________________

3. IN THE FORUMS:

*** PUBLIC FORUM ***

"For whatever reason, the polygraph questions pertaining
to drugs make me think of someone getting high, the
crime question about something getting shot or attacked
(I actually saw a gun fire a time or two in my mind),
and the verification that the information I provided
made me think of someone purposefully turning in
falsified/false forms and snickering about it..."

http://www.polygraphplace.com/ubb/NonCGI/Forum3/HTML/000026.html

*** EXAMINERS ONLY FORUM ***

"Happy New Year! I am not an APA member and cannot buy
insurance through their program. Do any of you have
any good referrals? What kind of rates are out there?"

To read and respond on this topic, you must have
registered and specifically requested access to the
private part of this forum.

You can read the requirements for joining this private
forum here:
http://www.polygraphplace.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/Ultimate.cgi

Just scroll to the bottom and READ ALL THE DIRECTIONS
under the heading...

*** Polygraph Professionals only - A PRIVATE Forum ***

_____________________________________________________________

4. FEATURE ARTICLE: "A concerned Polygraphist sent me
a letter authored by the National Training Center of
Polygraph Science"

EDITOR'S NOTE: I received the following letter
anonymously. Since it directly attacks the polygraph
school that Elmer Criswell instructs, I'm printing it
here unedited and Elmer has already agree to write a
response to this letter in the next issue. It is my
understanding that this letter went out to possibly
500 people, so it is not a 'private' letter, but
a distribution to members.

Note, since I do not have the ability to put super
script numbers in this limited formatting medium, I
have instead put the superscript reference numbers
inside two plus (+) symbols. e.g. +1+

Also, italics have been replaced with single quotes''

=======================================================

The National Training Center of Polygraph Science
Suite 1400, 200 West 57th Street
New York, New York 10019-3211
Voice: 800: 643-6597
24-hr Fax: 973: 838-8661
Richard O. Arther, M.A, A.C.P.
Co-Founder in 1959; Director since 1963
Catherine A. Arther, M.A., A.C.P.
Co-Ordinator since 1985

August 18, 2004

Dear Green Hippo (plus 2 +1+ ),

In January, 1996, the publisher of 'Law & Order'+2+ asked
Dick to write an article guiding a Chief/Sheriff in the
selection of his next polygraphist. Naturally, Dick agreed
to do so. After several rough drafts, the final version
(not yet on the computer) was ready for the addition of
stats but ... Dick got sick+3+ and somewhere along the line
everything was lost.

In the spring of 2002 - during the worst of 3
hospital-given infections and Dick nearly dying 4 separate
times (so our attention was obviously diverted) - a
polygraph school restarted...

NTC has faced competition before - the 3 main private
polygraph schools in the 1960's each rented classroom space
from Sobelsohn's. Obviously we survived!!

The current competition is totally different ... these new
schools (at least two) are being TOTALLY funded by the
Federal government!! Yes, you read this right - the
Federal government is picking up the tab!! How much money
is involved? For the Harrisburg school (the one that
re-started in 2002), brand-new buildings for classroom and
dorms PLUS everything is 'FREE'!! The students were to be
solely from the Northeast but they have been accepted from
literally across the country (i.e., Alaska).
_______

+1+ Cathy is superstitious about very few things - a big
one is saying who looks like a Green Hippo while still
working on the internship since there have been several
times when that jinxed everything. Dick is confident
though that here it will not happen as both Buckeyes
are so strong!

+2+ It has the world's largest law-enforcement
distribution. In 1959, the publisher told Dick that
printing a chapter/month of his 'Interrogation for
Investigators' is what helped the then-fledgling
magazine grow.

+3+ That first hospital infection in May 1996 is what
started a downward spiral. Thankfully, the absolutely
fantastic doctors of St. Louis' Barnes Hospital
understand that Dick's main goal and pleasure is
teaching. Their focus is making sure he is stable
physically so he can continue NTC so in turn you can
continue "Getting Those Confessions!"
_______

The only students accepted are law-enforcement officers+4+
and the charge to their agencies is ZERO ... "free tuition,
books, supplies! "free" sleeping room! "free" 21 meals a
week for the 12 weeks of schooling! If all this was not bad
enough, the main technique taught is Keeler's 1930s
Relevant/Irrelevant (with its 25% Indefinites and 5% error
rate), which Reid and Inbau proved in 1943 to be worthless!
(See A-8's Polygraph Psychology Part One 'Journal'.)
Welcome to 2004!! We have heard from NTCers+5+ that these
"operators" (using the word deliberately because that is
what they do - operate a computer polygraph) do not know
what they are doing, have high indefinite rates, and rarely
get confessions ... clearly, "free" is not always the best
deal!!

We can understand how many law-enforcement "brass", who
think ALL polygraph schools are the same, are lured by
"free". We can understand a stupid Chief doing that but...
one Chief who sent his lead detective was a Green Hippo!!
(yes, you did read this correctly!) When Dick asked "Why?",
he replied that money was short but since he heard from
another Green Hippo that an NTCer was teaching the Arther
technique in Harrisburg, it was okay.+6+

Because of the "free" lure, we now put into the inquiry
letter:

When the budget looks too tight, please call us - one of
our graduates is a retired Chief who managed to send two
officers on a budget of less than $1-million that covered
16 sworn, 25 auxiliary, and 9 civilian employees. There is
money available!

That retired Chief is Green Hippo Mike Corwin, who several
of you know personally and the rest have heard us mention
him numerous times during class.

This next statement is something we would rather be kept
quiet. Our Spring 2004 class had just 2 students - the
SMALLEST class NTC has EVER had. (Thankfully, as we
prepare this letter, there are 5 'confirmed' students
coming to Poughkeepsie with several others waiting final
approval.) If the issue of just 2 students is raised by a
non-NTCer, acknowledge but then please focus on NTC never
cancelling a class after even one student was enrolled.

As Green Hippos, you can now understand just how important
is that 'Law & Order' polygraphist-selection article! We
need to help the naive Chief/Sheriff understand what
polygraph is really all about and how there are differences
among the various schools. ALL polygraph schools are NOT
the same! That's where you come in ...
______

+4+ Big Deal - keep in mind that since Kennedy's 1988
Federal ANTI-polygraph law (which some call EPPA), NTC
has trained less than 10 private students! As always,
we do NOT train just anyone who wants to become a
polygraphist - i.e. those who readily say their main
objective will be the fidelity tests that are shown on
TV shows, etc. Could we train them? Yes, but then where
would that put your reputation when testifying in
court? YOU are more important to us!

+5+ NTCers whose agencies sent replacements to Harrisburg
(over their objection) as well as NTCers from
neighboring agencies.

+6+ The NTcer who is teaching never had the courtesy of
telling us he was to teach and thus obviously did not
have our permission to use any of The Reference Guide
material. Clearly it really hurts when at least 2 Green
Hippos and another NTCer so betray NTC. As the saying
goes, "With friends like these, who needs enemies?!"
______

We know that the average Chief/Sheriff is impressed with
numbers. What better numbers are there than your
statistics? You were made "Green Hippo" because of your
great results ... time to brag!

Please complete the enclosed form - 'TODAY' (or tomorrow
~ just ASAP)... no cover sheet needed. If we can include
your stats but the boss does not want your agency / your
name mentioned, that's okay - just so note on the form.
Obviously, we will send you (and your boss) a copy when we
submit it to 'Law & Order'.

As always, if there are any questions, just call ...
1-800: 643-6597

Also as always, THANK 'YOU' for all your support and
help!!!

Profesionally yours,
(there was a signature here)
Father Hippo
(there was a signature here)
Big Sister Hippo (#10)

EDITOR'S NOTE - My intention with printing this letter
is not to stir up dissension, which I admit may happen
anyway, but no more than it probably already has.
Rather, I print it as an example of what we in the
profession should not be doing to each other. We must
work together and agree to disagree at times without
attacking one another. And if the fear of having
something like this printed helps keep the industry from
doing that to each other, then so be it.

_____________________________________________________________

5. UPCOMING SEMINARS: Is your state association having
a seminar anytime in the year 2005?
Please send me the details so we can let everyone
know. mailto:support@polygraphplace.com

-----------------------------------------------
- NATIONAL POLYGRAPH ASSOCIATION 2005 SEMINAR -
-----------------------------------------------

When? January 24-26th, 2005
Where? Imperial Palace Hotel & Casino
Las Vegas, NV

For information contact Gary Davis 785-828-3248
e-mail: nationalpolygraph@yahoo.com

-----------------------------------------------
- ISRAELI POLYGRAPH ASSOCIATION 2005 SEMINAR -
-----------------------------------------------

When? January 27-29th, 2005
What? Post Conviction Sex Offender
Lectures
Who? Main Speaker will be Dan Sosnowski

For information contact IPEA President Shlomo Bruck
e-mail: uranus@inter.net.il

-----------------------------------------------
- MARYLAND POLYGRAPH ASSOCIATION 2005 SEMINAR -
-----------------------------------------------

When? February 3-4, 2005
Where? Comfort Inn - 800-424-6423
Bowie, MD. 20716
How Much? $175 for MPA members, $200 non-members

For information contact Dan Seiler 301-791-7039 ext 117
e-mail: dan@copscorp.com

____________________________________________________________

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