Not your ordinary poly/cvsa question...

[standalone]

I have a speech impediment, more specifically I stutter. When I do stutter my breathing and heart rate probably changes.

My question is; is this going to affect my poly or cvsa results? I believe Honolulu PD uses cvsa. Now if it does affect my results will render my testing inconclusive and cause me to be disqualified?

I'm sure they will know about my impediment prior to my test but I am worried about being disqualified because of it.

[retdetsgt]

No. But if you stutter, you may have a hard time getting a job as a police officer.

I can sympathize with you, I started stuttering at about 8 years old and didn't really get it under control until I was in high school. It took years of speech therapy. But there is no way I could have done the job as a cop had I still stuttered. You have to be able to communicate verbally and quickly. If you stutter, stress can make that harder to do.

[MarineMp]

Clear speech is an essential job function of police duties and an impediment which would prevent the individual from performing the essential functions of the position, with or without a reasonable accommodation, will be cause for disqualification

I am not sure how bad your stutter is. I am sure the officer will go a little deeper on this.

[standalone]

thank you for your responses, I have considered this and spoken to an officer about it already. They told me that it isn't a problem, they have an officer with the same problem on the force currently.

I do have it under control most of the time. Although I am still worried because it still affects my breathing sometimes.

[retdetsgt]

thank you for your responses, I have considered this and spoken to an officer about it already. They told me that it isn't a problem, they have an officer with the same problem on the force currently.

I do have it under control most of the time. Although I am still worried because it still affects my breathing sometimes.

Hope it works out for you. Even after I became a cop, I had trouble starting sentences with harsh sounds. In the first precinct I worked alone, all car numbers started with 8. I had to put a short and low "r" sound in front of it when I picked up the mike to answer. After a few years though, that also went away.

Good luck. Tell the polygraph examiner your concerns. If he's been around long, he's encountered this before.

[standalone]

thanks. I'll just have to wait till that time comes. If it doesn't work out, then I guess it wasn't meant to be.

[MarineMp]

Good Luck!

[camp4928]

I've taken the CVSA... if that is what you get, then I don't think irregular breathing will be an issue. It measures AM/FM frequencies in the voice. I was told by my examiner to give a clear, loud "Yes/No" answer. If your stutter prevents you from performing this, then you may be in trouble. Also, if focusing on your stutter makes you more nervous, then you may be in trouble. I was very nervous during my examination, and I failed. I told the truth on every question, but because I was nervous the CVSA showed deception on most of the questions. The Sgt. tested me three times with different results each time (like hitting deceptive on some questions and not on others and then vice versa).

My current employer took one because of some money that went missing in his workplace, and he related the same issues to me. He requested a polygraph instead of a CVSA and passed with flying colors. The thing is a piece of crap to be honest. I think departments spend $10K on them, and then,whether they work or not, they use them because THEY JUST BLEW TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!

[dkl1986]

The thing is a piece of crap to be honest. I think departments spend $10K on them, and then,whether they work or not, they use them because THEY JUST BLEW TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS!

i took one a few months ago and passed. the thing really was a piece of crap. it took them like 30 mins to fix the machine to finally get it to work. at first i thought it was an interview tactic to see if i would screw off or get impatient or something. it really was just junk.

[camp4928]

i took one a few months ago and passed. the thing really was a piece of crap. it took them like 30 mins to fix the machine to finally get it to work. at first i thought it was an interview tactic to see if i would screw off or get impatient or something. it really was just junk.

Maybe it is a tactic... my guy said that the noise from the AC was answering all the questions before we could get started. He turned off the AC to no avail. We had to switch offices. It's kind of fishy that we both happened to have "something go wrong" in our interviews. Or maybe it is just a piece of junk.