Reading about old crime cases from the 90s and even into the early 00s and police *really* believed that polygraph tests worked.
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@dalias @futurebird I know that the Secret Service is one of those that already do polygraphs on their own employees. The gov already has the equipment and "expertise".
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@dalias @futurebird I know that the Secret Service is one of those that already do polygraphs on their own employees. The gov already has the equipment and "expertise".
Witch dunking level thinking.
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There was a brief window in the late 80s and early 90s when it wasn't that uncommon to hear about police "consulting a psychic" on missing children's cases. I understand the desperation and the "who cares if it can do SOMETHING" of it all... but, the kind of person who would claim to be able to help in that way is NOT someone you want around!
They are delusional at best and a kind of criminal-conman themselves at worst.
@futurebird see also: fingerprints and bitemarks. Also useless for crimesolving. But honestly, cops are fascists, and if they have a technique that works, they'll use it to imprison good people far more often than bad people. We're better off if their crap doesn't work. And in that light, modern DNA tech in the hands of a fascist government is terrifying.
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Reading about old crime cases from the 90s and even into the early 00s and police *really* believed that polygraph tests worked. Even in cases in tiny little towns they'd whip that thing out and make all kinds of wild inferences based on what amounts to noise.
Now and then you hear about one of them being used to this day.
Absolutely wild and terrifying.
There are still "experts" running around who claim they can teach cops about "body language" that will tell them who is lying.
@futurebird This one hits home especially hard for autistic folks. Our body language and eye contact don't look like other people's, which is basically all they're looking for with these methods: anything out of the ordinary. Can't tell you the number of times my dad got mad at me for not making eye contact and assuming it meant I was being dishonest when I was not. Guess what being terrified of authority mistaking your body language for deceptiveness does to your body language... It makes it look like your nervous or hiding something. Catch 22.
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@futurebird I think they still believe in them and still use them. Absolutely nuts
US DoJ and CIA confirm psychics help police solve crimes
The CIA and the US Department of Justice both have published reports confirming that psychics have helped police solved thousands of crimes
Euro Weekly News (euroweeklynews.com)
@peterbutler @futurebird This immediately made me think of the Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney games.
Maybe cops should be shown the first game in the series, considering it ends with a clarification that spirits can still lie.
Though perhaps that'll just lead them to decide to hook up polygraph tests to psychics.
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There was a brief window in the late 80s and early 90s when it wasn't that uncommon to hear about police "consulting a psychic" on missing children's cases. I understand the desperation and the "who cares if it can do SOMETHING" of it all... but, the kind of person who would claim to be able to help in that way is NOT someone you want around!
They are delusional at best and a kind of criminal-conman themselves at worst.
But that fits in nicely with the time period of the Satanic Panic.
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But that fits in nicely with the time period of the Satanic Panic.
Gotta love being panicked about all that stuff AND running to psychics. But I guess it makes sense.
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There was a brief window in the late 80s and early 90s when it wasn't that uncommon to hear about police "consulting a psychic" on missing children's cases. I understand the desperation and the "who cares if it can do SOMETHING" of it all... but, the kind of person who would claim to be able to help in that way is NOT someone you want around!
They are delusional at best and a kind of criminal-conman themselves at worst.
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@futurebird It didn't help that the popular culture of the time propped them up (psychics, polygraphs, etc.). It was *everywhere* and usually if there was a token skeptic character the show would go out of its way to prove them wrong.
@fluffy @futurebird Prediction: We will see prosecutors trotting out "evidence" that AI thinks someone is guilty.
Because—as with polygraphs—unless prevented from doing so, prosecutors are more interested whether a thing will convince a jury than they are whether it is actually factual.
And AI is optimized for verisimilitude, not for truth.
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There was a brief window in the late 80s and early 90s when it wasn't that uncommon to hear about police "consulting a psychic" on missing children's cases. I understand the desperation and the "who cares if it can do SOMETHING" of it all... but, the kind of person who would claim to be able to help in that way is NOT someone you want around!
They are delusional at best and a kind of criminal-conman themselves at worst.
@futurebird invariably, so-called "police psychics" were not called in by investigators, but offered their services as a means of ginning up publicity for their schtick.
They'd then contact the press - usually either anonymously or through other deception- to make it sound as though the department a) had called them in and b) wanted it to be kept from the public.
Those few prognosticators able to provide concrete leads were then found to have been involved in the crime in the first place...
