Cold turkey at 20

[Intrinsic]

I've always wanted to be in LE. And thats exactly what a lot of people say, only to follow with a "i smoked dope for 5 years, i skimped on my taxes for 10 years.. etc". And everyone follows with a "if you knew you wanted to be a cop why'd you do it", I've agreed countlessly reading some of these.

I've always wanted to be in LE. I always stopped myself from speeding, snorting coke, shooting up schools, etc. Never received a ticket, never tried cannabis marijuanalis, never even got in a fistfight, ALWAYS reported my taxes (even had payroll call me to confirm an $800 report when everyone else was putting down $150), etc.

I thought I was good. After all, I've always wanted to be in LE. Until I read a recent thread where someone said they owned ten or so pirated software programs, mentioned it to his BI, and is now flipping burgers to make a living. Well, I don't know if that last part's true but I'm disappointed for myself in never thinking piracy was a "big deal".

I'll estimate I was fourteen when I first got a computer. My first poison was a program called "Napster". Ever since then I've been pirating music, games, and movies online using p2p programs (Limewire, Kazaa) and torrents. Not to mention my schools DC++ hub in which I must've acquired the same amount of megabytes in one semester than in my whole life (considering download speeds were ridiculously ludicrously extremely fast).

I'm talking tens of thousands of songs, hundreds of movies, hundreds of games, some software, all I didn't pay a penny for. However, am I saying I never have gone to the movies, bought a game, or paid for music? Hell no! But thats besides the point. Would I ever walk into a Best Buy and pocket a movie? Hell no! But it seems I've done just that thousands of times.

I've never to my memory have sold any of the media over the years, unless I'm correct in selling a couple to friends in high school, but no more than five music discs. Only reason I say this is because I remember purchasing a couple from a friend (i give him list of songs, he gives me cd few days later) So, in relation to total stuff stolen, 99.999% of it is for personal use only.

According to the thread I mentioned earlier, there never was a category for piracy in the polygraph, or something along the lines of "if i wouldn't have mentioned it, it wouldnt have come up, i wouldnt be making big macs" etc. But I'm all about being honest, what do I have to hide, I made a couple ten thousand mistakes, doesn't everyone?

I make a proposition, to myself, to anyone listening. I'm going piracy cold turkey as of today, May 19th 2007. I will delete all my piracy obtaining programs to never re-install them again. I will delete all illegally obtained music movies games and software. I will go in my car and take all my burned cd's out.

This isn't something small to me, everytime I wanted workout music, music for the car, a movie to watch at night, a television show I missed, I'd go without second thought to the computer. I understand technology has improved in the ease of acquiring legal media. For instance, I can buy songs and albums with the same speed from iTunes, I can tiVo shows, I can have rented movies sent to my door. It is what I will be doing from now on.

My question to anyone who has read this is: I'm 20 years old, I've been doing this for 5-6 years. Going cold turkey never to look back, is this something I can say "stupid childhood mistake?" Can I be redeemed in the eyes of LE recruitment? In 5 years will they have so many recruits with this in their past that it will be less of a worry to me?

Everything I've said is true to my knowledge, I'm not trying to doctor anything or make me look like a better person by changing numbers. I'm freaking out and want input. I'm evaluating the way I live to see what other improvements I can make, but as far as being in the dark ages over legality of my activities, this is the biggest beast.

FYI: I'm in college leaning towards accounting/finance, and am looking forward to applying to federal agencies. I'm sure I'll get steamrolled with the FBI's piracy agenda, but theres always CIAATFDEAICE right?. I love everything about law enforcement, and would be happy in a municipal or highway patrol career too, so I'm looking forward to comments from any and all.

[MaineSqueeze]

Its going to depend on the specific agency. My BI investigator didnt ask me about piracy in any way shape or form, and there was no questions about it on the pre-polygraph packet. But some agencies, they look at that as theft. And if you have thousands of dollars worth, that might be looked upon differently. You should be allset though, finish your degree and apply after college.

[PhilipCal]

Cold Turkey

It's almost a certainty that you'll be asked the following question during the hiring process. "Have you ever stolen anything, and not been caught/charged?"It may come up on your Personal History Statement, your Pre Polygraph Questionaire, or Oral Board. The only suggestion I can offer is to be honest about it. In your post, you note that you only downloaded for your personal use. Later, you contradict yourself by saying you did sell some copies to a friend. Suppose you go into a market and steal a candy bar. You eat it yourself, don't share it with anyone. Is that still a theft? These are the questions a BI. Polygraph Examiner, or Oral Board are likely to ask you. Should you apply? Go ahead, but be prepared to answer some pretty pointed questions concerning the piracy you've admitted to.