Tell us has your experience with this business or person been good?
Academy of Polygraph Science Latin America, Inc. Arno Horvath Abusive and coercive interrogation tactics Largo, Florida
I was ordered to undergo a polygraph examination as part of the pre-employment process to become a firefighter in Florida. I've undergone several polygraphs in the past in Texas when I first became a firefighter there and never had any problems.
I arrived at Arno Horvath's Office 20 minutes early and had to literally pound on the door for several minutes before he opened it. He appeared very disheveled and unkempt in appearance. He brought me first into the reception area and had me complete some forms. After completing the forms he quickly looked them over and began to laugh saying "Yeah, you've only used weed a couple times, you're gonna fail kid". Next he took me into the polygraph machine room and had me sit in a "special polygraph chair". He spent almost 30 minutes tooting his horn and telling me all about how great he is and how he can detect ANY lie that ANYONE says. (I know alot about polygraphs and began to laugh because I knew what a crock of s**t he was feeding me). He instantly became mad and began yelling at me. I told him that his fancy tools were nothing more than that.....fancy gags that are designed to convince you that he can read your mind. When he realized that I understood physiology and that he wasn't going to trick me he again became visibly upset and irritated. He told me all about how lying is bad and how he'd find out and tried to minimize all of my answers with suggestions like "Is it safe to say you've used drugs less than 10 times?". When I refused to agree to that statement (I've only used marijuana once) he became even more upset and aggressive and began to acuse me of being a liar and insisting that he'd "find out the truth".
He read over the background form a few times and told me what questions that he'd ask. He then said "Is there anything that you want to get off of your chest before we start....you know.....like how many times you've really used weed?" I told him no and he began the test. He made me empty my pockets (another tactic they use to make it feel like they're in control) and hooked me up to the machine. He then made me write a number on a piece of paper with my non-dominant hand (again a superiority tactic to make it look like he's reinforcing my future lies in my mind). He then spent almost an hour hammering me on my background focusing on my drug use. After 5 attempts to trip me up he jumped up out of his chair and said "I can't help you if you're going to lie, we're done here" and took me off the machine. He threw my car keys across the desk at me and asked me to leave. About 2 weeks later the background investigator for the fire department called me and told me that my polygraph was "inconclusive" and that I had to take another one. I did with a police detective from the Tampa area and passed with flying colors. During that polygraph the detective told me that Arno is notorious for lying on polygraph results and that he'll do "anything and everything" he can to make a buck from whomever he can. I talked to alot of the other firefighters in my department and most of them had similar results with Arno. He apparently hates firefighters, pararmedics, police officers, and military personnel. He makes most of his money lying to high paying attornies in divorce cases and civil trials where he'll say whatever they pay him to say. This guy is the biggest piece of garbage I've ever met and his "professional polygraph" services are a joke. Steer clear of this bozo, he obviously has no clue what he's doing. Of the 4 polygraphs I've had he's the only "inconclusive" result I've had and he's the only examiner to become emotionally upset when he couldn't trap me in a lie.