Only the truth First Person Singular


Dan Seiler, 62, Hagerstown // Polygraph examiner


interview by robin rose Parker


i’ve been active and involved in law enforcement issues and investigations for about 35 years. I’ve always felt that honesty was really important, and I always wanted to find the truth when I was an investigator. I even proved I was wrong in one of my cases — I arrested the wrong person. The evidence was very strong; it was a live witness identification, and it was the wrong person. I had that person polygraphed, and they passed, and I said, “This can’t be.” Well, then I went back to work on the case and proved there was somebody who looked just like this guy, who had a car just like his. It was unbelievable the coincidences. I said, “Wow, I gotta learn this, because if I could figure out if people were telling the truth, I could be a very good investigator.” I think you have to be a good one-on-one communicator. You have to understand that you need to treat people with dignity and respect, and most of the time you’ll receive that in return. I think being respectful of other people lends itself to people (Continued on Page 4)


{ Who Knew Name this local famous person Chief architect of the Saturn V launch vehicle that


propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the moon + Is quoted in the Thomas Pynchon novel “Gravity’s Rainbow” + A character in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel “Mother Night” reads a Life magazine with his image on the cover = (Answer: See next page)


OctOber 24, 2010 | The WashingTon PosT Magazine 3


PHOTOGRAPH BY BENJAMIN C. TANKERSLEY


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