By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post

Roger Butler grew up in Claflin and worked in law enforcement between schooling at Barton Community College and Fort Hays State University. After serving as Police Chief in Claflin and as a member of the Great Bend Police Department, Butler decided to go to polygraph school near Los Angeles, California.

Barton instructor Gary Pedigo encouraged Butler to take polygraph training, and 38 years later it has turned into a good decision and career with the Kansas Bureau of Investigation for the Great Bend resident.

Roger Butler Audio

The modern polygraph, or lie detector, was invented in 1921 and Butler says the technology in his more than three decades with the KBI has taken the original analog systems to more detailed computerized charts.

Butler was recognized with the 2018 William J. Taylor Life Membership Award at the recent American Association of Police Polygraphists convention June 3 – 8 in Louisville, Kentucky. The award is for “outstanding and extraordinary service to the AAPP.”

Roger Butler Audio

The Life Membership Award is given to one member annually that is nominated by a two-thirds majority of the Board of Directors and approved by a majority vote of the memberships at the annual meeting.

The AAPP was created in 1977 to promote ethics, training, and professionalism in the area of law enforcement polygraphs. Polygraphs are used heavily in preliminary investigations to help investigators determine who good suspects are and helps resolve the case if a good polygraph can result in a confession to a crime.