The first issue is to establish a policy for pre-employment applicant screening that uses the polygraph. The policy should contain a statement that is similar to the following: "The applicant must successfully complete the polygraph examination in order to continue in the hiring process." The policy must then define "successfully complete the polygraph examination." This should be defined as completing the polygraph examination with no deceptive responses on relevant issues that have not been resolved to the satisfaction of the police agency. When an applicant completes the polygraph examination, a policy that defines each possible test result should be in place. This article recommends definitions. Standard procedure should require that quality control be conducted on every polygraph examination of applicants. This should be done regardless of test results. Further, the applicant should be informed prior to the test that using a countermeasure to defeat the polygraph could be grounds for being eliminated from the hiring process. This article also discusses what is required in the event of having to defend test results of "deception/no confession" in a lawsuit. It considers a 1996 case in which a police applicant was rejected for employment based solely on a polygraph examination: David Law v. City of Colorado Springs, Col. The FBI's legal opinion on "deception/no confession" is also explained. 3 references