When I resigned my position as police Det. Sgt. in charge of the polygraph section of the Internal Affairs Unit with Oklahoma City Police Department and started my crusade against the polygraph industry, I had no idea of dangers and the rewards that were in store for me. I have been confronted by a gun wielding thug, offered bribes, placed under surveillance by the FBI, threatened by dozens of polygraph operators, my motives have been questioned, and I have become a man obsessed with a seemingly impossible mission.
My fight to stop the abuse endured by people involved in polygraph testing has continued for over thirty years and has been filled with many problems and frustrations. But there have been many rewards and a few successes. I was instrumental in providing protection for millions of polygraph victims with the passage of a federal law that outlaws the use of the polygraph in private industry; the Employee Polygraph Protection Act. This was a great success for which I was rewarded with sincere expressions of thanks from thousands of people.
This crusade has taken me to places as diverse as the halls of Congress, the studios of CBS 60 MINUTES, scores of television shows such as CBS NIGHTWATCH, NBC NIGHTLY NEWS, CNN NEWS, FOX NETWORK’S EXPLORING THE UNKNOWN, NBC DATELINE, FOX NEWS, CNN NEWS STAND, THE DISCOVERY CHANNEL, BBC, TLC, and most recently to the set of Showtime’s PENN & TELLER: BULLSHIT! You can go to MEDIA CLIPS page on my website: http://www.polygraph.com/testimonials_media.html to watch media clips from all of these broadcasts and you can also watch the entire CBS 60 MINUTES program as well as the full episode, (which Showtime rebroadcast just last week), exposing the lie detector on PENN & TELLER: BULLSHIT!
In my book, “FIGHTING THE DANGEROUS MYTH OF LIE DETECTION”, which is completed and contains eighteen chapters, (approximately 80,000 words), I tell of some of the adventures I have had in my crusade. I tell of the uproar that was caused when, in 1979, I resigned from the OCPD and called a news conference to blow the whistle on the polygraph industry. In my statement to the news media, I introduced myself as the only licensed polygraph examiner to ever tell the truth about the lie detector. That was true then, and it is still true today. In my opening statement to the news media, I referred to the lie detector as a “sick joke”; calling it the longest running con game in the history of the country. I confessed, in detail, to the many ways I had abused people, and told of my blatant disregard for basic human rights and dignity. I also reported that based on my experience with other polygraph examiners, this type of abuse was the norm in the polygraph industry. In this news conference, I demonstrated how, with just a little training, anyone could be taught to beat the test. I also explained how the “lie detector” is based the faulty premise that the reactions the polygraph brands as a lie are more often caused by simple nervousness rather than deception. In announcing my crusade against the polygraph industry, I outlined the details of the three-pronged attack I was mounting in an attempt to destroy the polygraph industry; those three prongs were education, legislation, and litigation. With that, I began a one man war against a billion-dollar a year industry.
The book also describes how I lived on the edge of poverty for many years while fighting this billion dollar industry. I tell of moving from city to city, primarily Oklahoma City, Dallas, and Houston, where I often lived in the back of a beat-up white 1967 Chevy panel truck, which I named Moby Dick because it reminded me of the great white whale. I tell of meeting with groups of people, such as store clerks and others who were forced to submit to a polygraph test for their jobs, in union halls, hotel conference rooms, and even church basements, where I would bring my polygraph and demonstrate how to pass a polygraph test using the technique taught in a manual I had written entitled, “HOW TO STING THE POLYGRAPH. I gave the unions, the ACLU, and anyone who needed it, permission to copy and distribute copies of my manual to everyone who attended the meetings, and to anyone who had to take a polygraph test. There were literally millions of manuals distributed all across the country; they created great deal of interest in my crusade as well as a great deal of consternation and concern in the polygraph industry. I describe the attempts by the polygraph industry to stop me; how they tried everything from threats to bribes. I tell of how I was interviewed on literally hundreds of radio talk shows, on which I debated many different polygraph operators about the validity of the polygraph. During most of these debates I was closed up in a public phone booth in front of some convenience store, trying to talk over the noise of the traffic, and enduring the heat and humidity of Houston Texas.
I describe how I later became a Methodist Minister and continued my crusade under the auspices of the United Methodist Church and how, with the credibility and resources that afforded me, I was able to garner a great deal of publicity and intensify my crusade against the polygraph industry. I continued the education phase of my crusade by continuing with seminars, and I had more frequent appearances on radio and television shows; the most important of which was CBS 60 MINUTES. I am one of the very few people who have been on 60 MINUTES and are proud of it; unlike the polygraph operators who were exposed as unethical con men. In this investigative report, which I spent five weeks in New York City helping to produce, we proved the polygraph was indeed a "sick joke" by showing that three out of three different polygraph examiners called three out of three different innocent truthful people liars on a crime that never even happened. I was told my many legislators, various union official, and by the ACLU that this exposé was the primary evidence used to force the passage the EPPA; legislation designed to protect employees from the abuses such as those depicted in this program. I was even given the VOLUNTEER ADVOCATE award by the ACLU for being, “the one person most responsible for the passage of the EPPA”. Also, in the area of the legislation, my book has the entire transcript of my testimony in the US House of Representatives in support of the EPPA, and a copy of the first edition of my manual which was also entered into evidence at the congressional hearing. I describe spending many weeks in 1986-7, in Washington DC demonstrating how to pass the polygraph test to legislators and staff members. During that time, I delivered copies of my manual and video tapes of the 60 MINUTES program to every member of the House and Senate. I describe how I encouraged people to contact their congressional representatives by telling them to ask for a free copy of my manual when they wrote or called; and how some congressional offices had to assign extra staff to fill all the requests.
I also tell of what happened after the passage of the EPPA in 1988, about how I became totally exhausted after almost 10 years of fighting, and dropped out to become a beach bum in Galveston, Texas. I then tell of returning to the crusade, and how, in 1996, I started my website www.polygraph.com, where I sold copies of my manual online. This was the first time since I started my crusade in 1979 that I ever profited by what I was doing; I had annual gross sales of over $200,000 for four years running. My website also resulted in renewed attention from television, radio, and print media; and the many requests from attorneys to testify as an expert witness. I also detail what happens when I testify as an expert witness in court cases and arbitration hearings; an example of one such hearing in which I was recently involved is recounted in detail with direct quotes from my testimony and the testimony of the polygraph proponents. I continue to be interviewed by newspaper and magazine reporters, and often appear on various television shows when the polygraph is in the news. I recently told one reporter that I am the only one I know of who has been interviewed on the same subject hundreds of times for almost 35 years.

As to my background and qualifications, I will simply refer you to the About Doug page of my website: http://www.polygraph.com/about_doug.html
If you have any interest in reading this book, I will be happy to send you a CD upon request. It is an exciting story of a renegade ex-cop who became a crusader, whistle-blower, brawler, and champion for the millions of victims of the polygraph industry. There are still millions of people victimized by this insidious Orwellian instrument of torture, and many of them would buy this book just to get a copy of my manual; the revised edition of HOW TO STING THE POLYGRAPH which is included in the last chapter.
PS My wife, who is an avid reader, tells me this book is very well written and is a compelling story which, besides being an exciting read, would make “a great whistle blower type of movie”.
Thanks,
Doug Williams
doug@polygraph.com
www.polygraph.com
405-226-4856