Examining since 2009
The Polygraph Examiner Behind Every Report
A polygraph examiner is the whole service. The instrument records, but a person builds the questions, runs the consultation and reads the chart. This page is about the person who does that here, and what he trained on before he did.
- South African Police Service, 1990 to 2008
- American Polygraph Association trained, 2010
- Advanced polygraph instructor, Bio Polygraph Israel, 2018
Where this came from
Eighteen years asking questions, before the first chart
Spot on Polygraph was established in 2009 by Steven Steyn. What came before it matters more than the date.
Steven served in the South African Police Service from 1990 to 2008, and spent that service as an internal investigation officer. Internal investigation is the hardest interviewing there is: the subject is a colleague, the room already knows the story it wants, and the officer asking has to keep going anyway. Eighteen years of it is where the questioning came from, and it is the part of this practice that no instrument supplies.
He resigned from the SAPS in 2008 and spent a year studying in the security industry in New Zealand. He came back to South Africa in 2009, moved into lie detection, and founded the practice the same year. Every qualification since has been added on top of that, not in place of it.
The practice has grown into a team, and it now covers investigation and labour work alongside the examinations. The standard has not moved: the examiner travels to the client, sits with the person before anything is switched on, and puts the findings in writing.
The record
Thirty-five years of interrogation and investigation
Set out in order, with the body that awarded each qualification named. Nothing here is a claim you cannot check.
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1990 to 2008
South African Police Service
Eighteen years of service, spent as an internal investigation officer.
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2008
Resigned, and studied abroad
Left the SAPS and took up studies in the security industry in New Zealand.
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2009
Spot on Polygraph founded
Returned to South Africa, moved into lie detection, and established the practice.
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2010
Full polygraph course, American Polygraph Association
The complete course in lie detection with the APA, whose code of ethics the practice still holds to.
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2012
Advanced polygraph course, SAPA
Advanced qualification completed in August 2012 with the South African Polygraph Association.
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2018
Advanced polygraph instructor, Bio Polygraph Israel
Instructor level, which is the qualification to train other examiners rather than only to examine.
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Today
Forensic psychophysiologist, and a team
Fully trained forensic psychophysiologist, leading a team that covers examinations, investigations and labour matters nationwide.
American Polygraph Association
Full course, 2010. Its code of ethics is the standard every examination here is run to.
South African Polygraph Association
Advanced polygraph course, August 2012, taken locally on top of the American qualification.
Bio Polygraph Israel
Advanced polygraph instructor, 2018. The level that qualifies an examiner to teach examiners.
What it means for you
A qualification is only worth what it changes
Four things follow from the record above, and they are the four you will actually notice.
The questions are built, not picked
Eighteen years of internal investigation is eighteen years of learning which question actually gets at a thing and which one only sounds like it does. Your examination is written for your matter.
Findings that survive a hearing
An examiner who came out of policing knows what a finding has to look like to be usable. The report is written to be put in front of someone else, and the examiner can speak to how it was produced.
A team, trained to one standard
Instructor level is the qualification to train other examiners, so the team is not a set of people who happen to work together. They were brought to the same standard on purpose.
Nobody is ambushed
The consultation happens before anything is switched on, and every question is worked through in it. Nobody is tested on a question they have not already seen.
How we work
Four things that do not get negotiated
The code of ethics, individually
Every examiner holds to the code of ethics of the American Polygraph Association in their own name, not under the practice's. It is not a badge on a website, it is what governs the room.
The civil rights of the person tested
Whoever is paying, the person in the chair has rights, and they hold for the whole examination. That is stated here because it is the first thing a badly run test gives away.
One client, one report
Results go to whoever commissioned the examination and to nobody else. Private matters are booked directly with you and reported directly back to you.
In writing, or it did not happen
Every engagement ends in a document rather than a phone call, and the quote that opened it was written too. Nothing about this practice runs on what somebody remembers being said.
Next step
Talk to the examiner, not a call centre
The quote is free and it is written. Nothing starts, and nothing is charged, until you have it in front of you and say yes.