Another eligibility thread!

[andrewkon5]

Hey everyone, just another boring eligibility thread. It's great that you officers take the time to respond to these, so many out there! Just wanted to get an opinion. Taking my PAT in a week so.

Traffic: 2-3 Tickets in the past 3 years....One was dropped, other took traffic school. Took the point on the third. One accident....over 4 years ago however. So two points overall. One in the past 3 years which is what they calculate from what I was told.

Drug use: Marijuana. Twice if I recall maybe 5 years ago ( age 15 ), never cared for it.
EDIT: You might find this hilarious, but I never inhaled it. I still can't inhale anything to this day -_- Don't really know if that's even relevant.

Arrested? Yep, once as a juvenile. Never convicted, judge dropped the case. Frivolous 911 call, not a blemish on my record however it could raise an issue with the poly.

Otherwise, just a normal guy with his head on straight. Not going to lie, not the best record but my drug use and convictions are clean.

[Smurfette_76]

BI's don't particularly care about 'points' on license or insurance, merely how many tickets you've had and what they were and how they were resolved.

You used marijuana. Yes, not inhaling is amusing. Don't say it or write it on your BI packet.

The juvenile incident. You were charged with interferring with 911 communications or the call someone made on you was a frivolous 911 call? BTW, any charge is a blemish. Why do you think it would raise an issue on the poly? You know you have to tell them upfront unless they specifically ask for arrests, not to include juvenile.

[PhilipCal]

Citations: Too recent. As my colleague noted, Background investigators are not so much concerned about the disposition of the charges, as the original charge itself. Juvenile arrest: Once more, any charge is a blemish. If you were involved in a false/frivolous 911 call, I tend to take that very seriously. Gotta love your Bill Clinton explanation for the marijuana use. Might be amusing to you, but don't count on the BI being entertained. How can drug and convictions be clean? You should keep in mind, as you enter any process, that you'll be competing against many high quality candidates who don't bring your baggage into the process.

[Iowa #1603]

My colleagues stated the truly obvious but here are my 2 cents worth

Traffic: 2-3 Tickets in the past 3 years....One was dropped, other took traffic school. Took the point on the third. One accident....over 4 years ago however. So two points overall. One in the past 3 years which is what they calculate from what I was told.

As stated we really don’t care about the points or the traffic school.
You had 3 tickets …(what for?????)
On was dropped ----basically didn’t happen
One you were convicted and took traffic school as a penalty (yes---that is a conviction and YES a Background Investigator would find it as a conviction)
One you were convicted and “took the points”

Final total 2 convictions in 3 yrs……………………….probably too recent for most major departments to consider you at this time……………give it another 3-5 yrs ticket free.

Drug use: Marijuana. Twice if I recall maybe 5 years ago ( age 15 ), never cared for it.
EDIT: You might find this hilarious, but I never inhaled it. I still can't inhale anything to this day -_- Don't really know if that's even relevant.

Well within minimums for most departments, however you might find a department or two that will think it is too recent…………………..about the not inhaling---------------forget about that, you smoked pot….end of story.

Arrested? Yep, once as a juvenile. Never convicted, judge dropped the case. Frivolous 911 call, not a blemish on my record however it could raise an issue with the poly.

Yes that is a blemish on your record. Actually that is a serious blemish on your record. Messing with the 911 system calls your judgment into suspicion. Even as a juvenile I would question your judgment after hearing about this type of situation.
Once again this is an item that needs to be placed on your personal history questioner for review by a Background Investigator………………

Otherwise, just a normal guy with his head on straight. Not going to lie, not the best record but my drug use and convictions are clean.

Your drug us is NOT clean and actually we care just as much about arrests/charges as we do convictions.

The bottom line is I don’t see any fatal problems with your history as you have told us as long as you don’t’ downplay ANY of the negatives and fully disclose everything. Also remember that the competition is very strong right now for Law Enforcement jobs………………………MANY of the candidates that you will be competing with have absolutely NO negative marks against them…………

[sigcopper]

What have you been doing with your life since you turned 18? Do you attend school or what? I'm more concerned about what you have done since graduation than what happened when you were a kid. You never mentioned what the tickets were for. We need that information to remotely consider your question.

[andrewkon5]

Time to clear things up. I really should have written this in more detail however it was quite late at night.

The arrest was when I was a juvenile. I did not make the call I am referring to, a citizen ( ex girlfriend ) did. I was picked up for criminal threats. Without going into detail I'm just going to say that the arrest did not meet the requirements for criminal threats in California. Dropped and dismissed.

Tickets - One accident at fault at the age of 15-16 ( not recorded for department I'm applying to. Apparently they only consider the past 3 years ). The other ticket was speeding 45 in a 35 ( took traffic school ) Other was highway 72 in a 65.

Drug use - I currently am 20 1/2 years old. I tried weed twice and I never cared for it. It was over 5 and a half years ago in the 9th grade. I'm going to admit that, and move forward.

What I've been doing since I was 18.... Well, I have two years at a community college with a flat 4.0 GPA. I currently work at a bank handling upwards to 20-30 thousand dollars cash at anytime. Previously I did an internship with a company that required me to send in an SF85P and pass backgrounds with various agencies due to the information I handled.

Honestly, I just wanted to get a few opinions. I admit, it's not the greatest record. However I do possess a job that requires a large amount of integrity and honesty which plays to my benefit. I understand the competition is fierce but the only thing I can do is be honest and demonstrate that I have the ability to do this job.

[DRiz]

……………………MANY of the candidates that you will be competing with have absolutely NO negative marks against them…………

I'm not trying to kick the bee hive as I know you have many years of experience over me, but I respectfully disagree that a perfect background realistically makes a candidate more suitable. They usually lack essential life experience points or just haven't been caught.

[andrewkon5]

I'm not trying to kick the bee hive as I know you have many years of experience over me, but I respectfully disagree that a perfect background realistically makes a candidate more suitable. They usually lack essential life experience points or just haven't been caught.

I agree. Honestly I'm just going to go in there and tell the truth and show them that I have the ability to do this job with integrity and honesty.

[Buffaloboy]

I have a feeling your not telling us everything...something's off.

[Iowa #1603]

I'm not trying to kick the bee hive as I know you have many years of experience over me, but I respectfully disagree that a perfect background realistically makes a candidate more suitable. They usually lack essential life experience points or just haven't been caught.

The thing is that given all other things equal, a law enforcement administrator will most likely take the person who doesn't have any negative marks against them.


I never said a perfect background is going to make a better cop. I said that these are the people you will be in competition with.........

Life experience is a valid qualification .......and an important one---one of the reasons why there are not a whole lot of 21 yr olds being hired percentage wise now days-------but any hint of criminal activity or any other actions that bring your judgement into question will be carefully dissected.

[FutureLEO32]

Has anyone here had to answer a question on an application that reads like this... How many times have you used Marijuana? How many times have you possessed Marijauna? The touching of marijuana is also defined as a possession. So for example you smoked a joint, 1 use, but in a social setting, so that equals multiple possesions? Am I reading into the question to much? Thanks in advance for your replys

[TheKansan]

I'm not trying to kick the bee hive as I know you have many years of experience over me, but I respectfully disagree that a perfect background realistically makes a candidate more suitable. They usually lack essential life experience points or just haven't been caught.

Hardly. That sounds like an excuse that someone with a far less than perfect background would use.

[USMARINE]

EDIT: You might find this hilarious, but I never inhaled it. I still can't inhale anything to this day -_- Don't really know if that's even relevant.

If you can't inhale anything to this day, how are you still alive?

[andrewkon5]

I mean't when it comes to smoking. Cigarettes, hookah, can't inhale any of it. Anyway I'm in the background process now, my BI is very down to earth and I told him all of the above. According to him it shouldn't be a problem. They're looking for domestic violence, drug use ( the department I'm applying to has the 3 time 7 year rule. If you haven't used marijuana more than 3 times in the past seven years, you're good to go ) and other serious felony arrests.