Piotr Herbowski

Piotr Herbowski is an Associate Professor at Jan Długosz University in Częstochowa, Poland, holding a habilitated doctorate (dr hab.) in legal sciences. He completed his police officer studies at the Higher Police School in Szczytno in 1999 and subsequently worked in the operational division of the Municipal Police Headquarters in Poznań. From 2005-2012 he was a lecturer in the Department of Forensic Science at the Police School in Piła, and in 2012 became an assistant professor at the Institute for Research on Crime and Terrorism at the Higher Police School in Szczytno. He is a member of the Polish Forensic Society (Polskie Towarzystwo Kryminalistyczne).

Herbowski's research focuses on the intersection of forensic science and criminal procedure, particularly the use of polygraph examinations and operational investigative activities in the criminal justice process. His 2023 publication with Dominika Słapczyńska demonstrated the advantages of using a visual version of the Concealed Information Test (CIT) during polygraph examinations, proving that the examinee knew the victim of the crime despite previous denials. Along with Słapczyńska, he has advocated for the Polish approach wherein both the CIT and the Comparison Questions Test (CQT) are treated as complementary methods rather than competitive ones, both being particularly helpful in difficult investigations. He has also proposed periodic polygraph examinations of dangerous sex offenders as a special protection measure.

Herbowski has been cited by 42 researchers and has published 49 works. His collaboration with Dominika Słapczyńska, a polygraph specialist and board member of the Polish Polygraph Association who conducts research on the diagnostic value of polygraph tests and their use by law enforcement agencies, has been particularly productive. Beyond his 2023 work in European Polygraph, the research team published "The Significance of Polygraph Methods in Polish Investigations" in 2015, and their 2020 article on monitoring sex offenders recommended periodic polygraph examinations as a special protection measure.

Herbowski is the author of numerous publications in forensic science, specializing in issues at the intersection of forensics and criminal procedure, particularly regarding the use of polygraph examination results and operational-investigative activities in criminal proceedings. His work has been published internationally in edited volumes on law enforcement, including chapters on pre-employment polygraph examinations in law enforcement agencies and the use of prison informers in Poland. His doctoral dissertation focused on polygraph examination as a method of verifying investigative theories.