Voice stress test can tell all

HALIFAX — In red ink, Lt. Bobby Martin scribbled, “Lock him up.”

I had failed the voice stress test, the analysis of the data showed I gave “false” information to a police officer in a sensitive murder case.

Had I been a real suspect and the “test” not an opportunity to learn about the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office newest weapon in the war on crime, I probably would have ended up behind bars, Martin told me.

Learning Tuesday I would be able to take a test Friday at the Halifax County Sheriff’s Office, I thought of the ways I should approach this. Obviously, I wanted to fool the machine but the way my mind works sometimes I wondered what would happen if I was too convincing, or somehow on the night in question, I was hypnotized and did it.

I don’t mean to make light of murder, but these are the things I think about. On Friday, however, I decided I would say I did it, pulled the trigger and killed someone, my reason just for the publicity.

This is not uncommon in law enforcement, Martin says. “Why they do it, I don’t know. Why would they put themselves in that situation?”

There are some techniques Martin asked not be divulged and I complied, including what murder it was. Other than that I was treated as a suspect whose name was provided to law enforcement through a Crimestoppers tip.

The testing is in the interview room of the sheriff’s office, not like an interview room you see in film noir where a bare light bulb is swinging overhead as the coppers try to sweat the truth from you. The room is sparse and not a place you want to be, especially when your alleged role in a murder is being dissected.

The mood is relaxed. Martin puts you at ease, explaining why you were called in, making the atmosphere as comfortable for the situation.

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The instrument measures your AM and FM modulation, the same modulations found in radios. When you become stressed, there is a disruption in your FM. “You can’t fix it because it’s all right here,” he says, pointing to his head, meaning it’s in your central nervous system.

To learn this instrument, Martin and Maj. Bruce Temple spent a week at the National Institute for Truth Verification in Maryland.

When Temple first discussed using this method at the sheriff’s office, Martin wasn’t sold. “I was skeptical,” he said. “I’ve been in law enforcement 15 years and it’s always polygraph, polygraph, polygraph.”

As Temple researched, Martin became more comfortable and after the classes, Martin was convinced it was the better way to go. “There are some polygraph operators who don’t like this and there are some voice stress analysts who don’t like the polygraph. I believe in this instrument.”

Martin has run 10 tests so far. “Out of the 10, I have got six that have been charged with something and the others, our suspects were cleared. I would call it successful.”

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So, here I am in the sheriff’s office. I made a decision to claim I did  it about 30 minutes before we arrived. Saying I didn’t do it would give me no sense of the capabilities of this device.

Of the 15 questions I will be asked, we already know two will be lies for control purposes — my birthdate and whether I have ever driven over the posted speed limit, inconsequential questions but important for the upcoming questions.

I am at ease and believe I can beat this “machine” as I like to call it, although those who operate it call it an instrument.

There are only three questions pertaining to the murder, but the way they are worded are crucial and I answer yes to all of them: Following the victim to house, aiming a gun and shooting him.

I won, I thought, and was ready to be handcuffed and sent away to prison when I learned later the only thing I did was calmly answer one of the questions about my involvement, only to have the instrument discover my lie on the next question.

Had I been a true suspect, I would be arrested. “You came in here and lied to me,” Martin said. “In a situation like this I would charge you. I wouldn’t feel comfortable if I didn’t. You took me off the case, you put a fork in my path.”

Luckily, this was just a test to see this instrument in action. Having never taken a polygraph I don’t know what to compare it to. Obviously, it works, and obviously it is something the sheriff’s office plans to continue using. “It can be used from shoplifting all the way up to murder,” Martin explains, saying later, “It’s not going to clear every case because not everyone is going to take it.”

Martin swears by its effectiveness. “It hasn’t been beaten and I don’t think it will be.”

After failing to beat it, I would have to say it’s effective, too, and of course, I’m happy I’m not in jail.