Polygraph testing not final answer, some experts say

Hartford Courant

Walking the Appalachian trail or fooling around in Argentina? Sober or still drinking-and-drugging on the sly?

There is a way to uncover the truth, some experts say: Ask the person to take a polygraph test.

“It’s cheaper than a divorce,” said Bernie Soldate, owner of Forensic Polygraph Center in Simsbury, Conn. Soldate charges the going rate, about $900, to administer a polygraph test.

A “lie detector” isn’t just for criminal cases anymore. Increasingly, it’s being advertised as a tool for private citizens to solve pressing domestic issues or even neighborhood disputes.

Associated Polygraph Center in East Hartford, Conn., recently bought billboard space near downtown Hartford in hopes of drumming up more business.

“We’re looking for more of the domestic market,” said Karen Nunez-Robbins, whose business partner, Leighton “Skip” Hammond, founded the company.

More consumers are turning to polygraph examiners to set the record straight, said Soldate, who estimates that 50 percent of his business comes from domestic issues.

“Half of the work out there is husbands and wives, couples,” said John Grogan, executive director of the Polygraph Examiners of America. Grogan, who lists baseball player Jose Canseco among the people he has tested, swears by its accuracy.

Most couples would be better served by marriage counseling than a two-hour session with a polygraph examiner, said Warren Corson, executive director of Community Counseling of Central Connecticut.

Consumer advocates, psychologists and even polygraph examiners say one should think long and hard before asking someone to hook up to a lie detector.

Some clients aren’t testable. People who take certain medications or suffer from anxiety disorders don’t make good subjects, Hammond said. George Maschke, co-founder of Antipolygraph.org, said “marital” or “infidelity” testing is a marketing ploy, and a dangerous one at that.