We've all been taught from a young age that we should always tell the truth -- it's bad to tell a lie.

In Jefferson County, investigators are working with some cutting edge equipment to help them tell the difference while trying to fight crime.

"What this does is it captures different rhythms in your voice," said Lt. John Parker of the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office.

It's called the computer voice stress analyzer. It looks like just a laptop, but it's loaded with cutting edge technology aimed at measuring anxiety and detecting lies.

"We've been successful in robberies, thefts, molestation of children. It's worked well," said Sheriff Fred Abdalla.

Abdalla said it works better than the standard polygraph which he said took too much time.

"Well we'd have to make an appointment with Cambridge. It may be a week or longer before we could get there. Now when a person says I'll take the test, we can take that test right then and there," said Abdalla.

Abdalla said when suspects fail the test, he tells them, and in most cases that’s when they decide to make a confession.

“We still have to do good old fashioned police work, but this helps us,” said Parker.

The sheriff's office isn't the only department in Jefferson County to use the test. The Steubenville Police department also has officers trained to use it. Both departments got it through a joint grant.

The results of the test do not hold up in court, but the sheriff said it helps them significantly in obtaining confessions.