Several suspected terrorists were released from custody based on the machine's results and former Iraqi deputy prime minister Tariz Aziz was one of the many "high value targets" who were hooked up to the now discredited machine. ...
Robert Rogalski, deputy undersecretary of defense for counterntelligence, said that an exhaustive Pentagon-ordered study of the stress analyzer, whose results are now being made public, found little or no relationship between the machine's reading and the actual presence or absence of deception and stress.
Others have arrived at the same conclusion.
"This device is nothing more than a prop," said John Palmatier, who earned a doctorate in psychology and who studied the machine for the Michigan State Police Department, where he worked. He said his study along with others found no scientific basis for Humble's claims.
The police don't always care whether technology is accurate. It's enough that the interrogator can tell a suspect, "You failed the test." That assertion is often enough to prompt a confession -- even if the suspect is innocent. Just ask Michael Crowe, who was falsely accused of murdering his sister.
"I started to think that, you know, maybe the machine's right, especially when they added on top of it that the machine was getting my subconscious feelings on it, that I could be lying and not even know it," Crowe, now 21, told "Primetime." "They said the machine is more accurate than the polygraph and is the best device for telling the truth, for finding the truth." ...
But one week before the start of his trial, the police found DNA evidence that led to the real killer, a transient who is now in prison for killing Crowe's sister. The judge denounced both the false confession and Humble's machine.
Will Charles Humble admit that his machine was inaccurate? Of course not.
"I don't believe the instrument was wrong. Now were the examiners wrong? I don't know," Humble replied when asked about the case. "I don't believe I owe Michael Crowe an apology."
Admitting the truth about the machines would probably put an end to Humble's lucrative business. And what, exactly, are Humble's credentials?
Although throughout the video Humble is referred to as Dr. Humble, "Primetime" discovered that he is neither a medical doctor nor has he earned a doctorate from an accredited university. Instead, the diploma on his office wall, which reads "Doctor of Psychology," is an honorary degree, awarded by a Bible college in Indiana that used to have an office in the strip mall where Humble's first office was located.
Humble seems to know how tell lies, but even a top executive in his company acknowledged that his device can't detect them. Police agencies that were duped into buying this useless piece of seemingly high tech gadgetry should be asking for their money back. So should the military, which paid more than a million bucks for Humble's machines.
