Resigning under investigation…

[furture5oh]

This is kind of embarrassing for me but here goes….

I was given the option to resign under investigation or to be found guilty and fired (the investigation had to do with handling of a prisoner’s property). The investigation was not the sole reason for this situation. My report writing played into this as well. To make a long story short, I choose to resign. I want to get back into law enforcement, but I’m afraid as to how this will affect that. I guess I’m just asking if I realistically have a chance of finding another job, or if I should do something else. I know I could excel at another department, but I don’t want to put the energy into another hiring process if there’s no chance of getting hired.

[sparkydavid]

Were you undergoing FTO at this time? If you were well liked at that department (ex trying very hard but just could not cut it), you might have a chance. This happended to me at the last department I was at. They said it was report writing, along with some other things. I immediatly applied at other departments and was given two offers from some good agencies.

During the background, I was just honest but I never badmouthed my previous department. I just stated the facts and moved on from there. You might have a chance but it really will depend on what your previous department says about your character. I would talk with some FTO's and supervisors of the previous department and ask them if they would give you a positive recomendation. Questions? PM me.

[sparkydavid]

BTW. At my current department, I never had any issues with training. Kinda funny how that works.

[furture5oh]

If you were well liked at that department (ex trying very hard but just could not cut it), you might have a chance.

I think that is the case. I was always told that I was "Trying too hard". I'm more worried about the investigation part.

[sparkydavid]

Sometimes other agencies will realize that you can make it with their agency even though you were "let go" with your previous one. I dont know the details of your situation, but if you had a "bad" FTO that did you in, your background investigator can smell that. When you go through the hiring process again, you will have to explain what happened that caused you to resign.

Trust me, it was not an easy thing to do. Just explain the facts. If it was report writing, then say you learned a lot from the training that was offered to you and you are a very good report writer today. The new agency that is looking at you can see if you "had a bum deal" at your previous agency. Good luck.

[just joe]

It can be done, but don't expect it to be easy. There was a thread on a similiar topic a couple of weeks ago.

[Iowa #1603]

This is kind of embarrassing for me but here goes….

I was given the option to resign under investigation or to be found guilty and fired (the investigation had to do with handling of a prisoner’s property). The investigation was not the sole reason for this situation. My report writing played into this as well. To make a long story short, I choose to resign.

You are not going to like what follows:

Based on this sentence ONLY....................you will most likely have a long, hard road ahead of you trying to get another LE job.

The report writing ..and failure of FTO are totally different things. That stuff can be talked out during a BI or the rest of the employment process.

You were under investigation and being threatened with termination............you then gave them that resignation and basically admited that you were at fault for whatever was being investigated.

I made that mistake 25 yrs ago...........................and was never able to get back into line law enforcement............and trust me the application pool was a lot more shallow then that it is now..........the competition wasn't even close to what it is like NOW. I had over 5 yrs in at the time and was a patrol officer/paramedic with a lot of skill sets.

The resignation under investigation today.......in Iowa...............is a reason for the Academy Council to take it upon its own motion to de-certify a peace officer................with out further investigation/evidence. (Was not true at the time of my resgination)

[sigcopper]

Without knowing what you were accused of doing, it would be very difficult to even comment on your situation. Sounds as if you were accused of theft? I've been doing backgrounds for 6 years now and have run across some applicants that are in your same boat. They never progressed far in the hiring phase since there are so many other applicants that don't have issues. Like others have said, you need to be honest with the person conducting the background on you. Is there a hometown PD you could work part-time for? That way you could keep your foot in the door, get more experience, and hopefully put a few years behind you.

I wish you luck. I hate to see people fail, but this job isn't for everybody.

[BigTrooper]

In my time, I have heard of people being successful after resigning under investigation, but all of them had the following in common:

1. There was no citizen complaint
2. They came forward with the information out of integrity/conscience, even though they knew it would damage them
3. They were not forced to resign
4. They were not told "resign or be fired"
5. They had a stellar record before the investigation
6. They were not alleged to have committed a criminal violation
7. The allegations were policy violation/administrative
8. They were open and honest about it from the get-go with the new agency
9. They passed the polygraph during the hiring process with new agency
10. They waited about a year before trying to re-apply with agencies with no more screw-ups, whether LE or not.
11. They had a ton of commendations from the public, their agency, and other agencies
12. They had VERY few complaints from the public, if any, and they were not the same as the allegations in the investigation (i.e. no pattern)
13. They had good references from within the investigating agency
14. Avoiding sustainment of the allegations and avoiding punishment was NOT the primary reason for resigning

Obviously, there are very few that meet this criteria.

One of them resigned over a realtively minor investigation before he was even interviewed. In addition, all of the alegations against him were closed with a "no finding." That always helps, even if you resigned before the investigation was finished. The ones that met the above criteria were hired and performed beautifully given a second chance. Everyone screws up, it is all in how you handle it.

[BPD_126]

BTW. At my current department, I never had any issues with training. Kinda funny how that works.

Yeah isn't it?! Same story w/ me Sparky. Do like Sigcopper said. You need to find another "Home" and put some time/distance between it. From there, you shouldn't have a problem, depending on what it was, which we don't know yet

[furture5oh]

it wasn't theft or anything like that, it was a policy violation that had to do with handling of prisoners.

[JSD73]

So in other words, they wanted you gone, you gave them the ammo and BAM, you were left with no other options.

Yes it is possible, I've done it.......TWICE.......not for reasons you gave but I've been screwed glued and tattoed in this profession. Remain honest, be up front about what happened, and don't bash the agency. Just move on and be prepared to submit more than a few apps.

[sigcopper]

Boy, your answer makes me wondering even more now! "Handling of prisoners". What does that mean????? If you are looking for answers here, you need to be more specific!

[furture5oh]

I was booking a prisoner (3x my size by myself - standard department practice) and he got a hold of some pills that were sitting on a desk. he swallowed some of the pills before I cold stop him. They put me under investigation for failure to safeguard prisoners

[MRRBEST]

I was booking a prisoner (3x my size by myself - standard department practice) and he got a hold of some pills that were sitting on a desk. he swallowed some of the pills before I cold stop him. They put me under investigation for failure to safeguard prisoners

Thats a shame if this whole thing came due to that.

I don't want to sound nieve, but standard department practice?
When you say "booking", that might vary by department.
I've handled plenty of prisoners 3x my size by myself also, but once in custody, this only included transporting to jail, taking said subject out of my vehicle, walking said subject (still handcuffed) into the jail, and then releasing to the Correction Officers. Then finishing paperwork, etc.

When you say booking, are you implying going through the paperwork and everything at a desk for example with the said subject? If so, why was the subject out of handcuffs? How did he access the pills?

These are just some basic questions that I'd have based on the small amount of information I have from above.

If you honestly feel you didn't do anything wrong though or could not prevent it, why resign? I'm not saying your wrong, just asking why you would resign in this situation if you felt you couldn't control it. Maybe it would call for a change in policy, in which case, might result in no discipline, minor discipline (contact, written report, etc), compared to termination.