Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

Hey everyone, I'm just writing up this thread to get some feedback and what would be my chances are becoming a Law Enforcement Officer.

A little about me-
I'm currently 18 yo, male, and in good shape. I'm working on getting better stamina and some running drills, as well as the typical pushups and stuff like that.

History-
Back when I was 16 and 17 years old I lost all my grandparents who were my life. Also throughout my high school carrer my mother was in the hospital every few months having several open heart surgeries. I was confused and angered so I ended up hanging out with bad so called friends. I've had 3 police encounters throughout my lifetime. 1 being my idiot friends stole video games from a local story and I was with them (not knowing they stole them). I get a call and get interviewed. I was nervous and told the cop everything I knew, and that I knew they did drugs and stuff like that. I never heard back from the cop on the matter. Then a few months go by and those same buddies and I were in my car and we were in a walmart parking lot just hanging out in the back and a cop comes up and asks for ids and all that. We all cooperated. Turns out they had a warrant for one of my so called friends. He got arrested and then I went home, traumatized. Lastly, the last and final encounter was when I was helping a buddy load scrap metal into his truck at his house. Turns out it wasn't his metal and he stole it. Lucky me I was in the car with him. -_- No charges or anything went down. Never heard anything of it again. I've smoked weed 3 times in my life. Would I do it again, NEVER in a million years. Not even if someone threatened me with a gun. Also I have never drank any alcohol before. This may sound really weird but I swear God has come down and gotten me out of the tough times. That's why I'm here asking you guys for your advice.
Lastly, no traffic problems tickets or anything. Also because of my young age, and hopefully bright future I'm in college right now trying to find a major that would fit me, so I'd be willing to go get a bachelor degree in CJ.

Thanks for reading my essay everyone. Let me know what you think, and if there's a fighting chance for me.

Your only 18 so not drinking is good, but your not 21 so its a little errelevant. The cannabis use is going to be an issue if you apply when you meet the age requirements at a department (19/21). For "experimental" cannabis use the minimum time since last use is 3-5 years prior to when you seek a LEO job. So if you were 16-17 when you last smoked you would at the minimum wait until your 19-20 preferably even longer. The "friends" you have associated with WILL be an issue. You may not have known about the first theft while you were with them, however after knowlege of their criminal activity you continued to associate and more criminal activity took place. Then "another" friend of yours was also involved in criminal activity and you were present AGAIN. You may have convinced the investigating Officer you were not involved and had no knowlege of the activity but when a background investigator hears the "story" they may find it hard to believe you had no knowledge of the activity.

Basically you are guilty by association and it will be very difficult to convince a BG investigator you had no "clue" what was going on in your presence and it shows repeat instances of bad judgement. As a LEO we are expected to have VERY good judgement and if there is any doubt about your judgement no agency is going to give you the power to take away someones freedom or life.

I am not telling you to forget being a "cop", but it sounds as if you will have to "prove" you have matured and have learned from your "bad judgement" and past mistakes.

My advice is to pick who you associate with very carefully, get a degree and give it several years then start applying with an agency. You are now a young adult and you will have to prove you are a responsible adult.

Hey everyone, I'm just writing up this thread to get some feedback and what would be my chances are becoming a Law Enforcement Officer.

A little about me-
I'm currently 18 yo, male, and in good shape. I'm working on getting better stamina and some running drills, as well as the typical pushups and stuff like that.

History-
Back when I was 16 and 17 years old I lost all my grandparents who were my life. Also throughout my high school carrer my mother was in the hospital every few months having several open heart surgeries.

As a after thought, its unfortunate about your family medical issues and losing your grandparents, however I would not suggest trying to make excuses for your actions. Everyone has family issues etc, but not everyone "acts out" as you have called it.

This "acting out" and the reasons you feel are behind it may cause you issues during a physc evaluation that EVERY agency performs on LE candidates. Also while it does not hurt to be in good shape when pursuing a LE position it is not nearly as important as your past and current conduct, education etc. You should concentrate just as much effort if not more in your education and future responsible desicions, etc.

Your only 18 so not drinking is good, but your not 21 so its a little errelevant. The cannabis use is going to be an issue if you apply when you meet the age requirements at a department (19/21). For "experimental" cannabis use the minimum time since last use is 3-5 years prior to when you seek a LEO job. So if you were 16-17 when you last smoked you would at the minimum wait until your 19-20 preferably even longer. The "friends" you have associated with WILL be an issue. You may not have known about the first theft while you were with them, however after knowlege of their criminal activity you continued to associate and more criminal activity took place. Then "another" friend of yours was also involved in criminal activity and you were present AGAIN. You may have convinced the investigating Officer you were not involved and had no knowlege of the activity but when a background investigator hears the "story" they may find it hard to believe you had no knowledge of the activity.

Basically you are guilty by association and it will be very difficult to convince a BG investigator you had no "clue" what was going on in your presence and it shows repeat instances of bad judgement. As a LEO we are expected to have VERY good judgement and if there is any doubt about your judgement no agency is going to give you the power to take away someones freedom or life.

I am not telling you to forget being a "cop", but it sounds as if you will have to "prove" you have matured and have learned from your "bad judgement" and past mistakes.

My advice is to pick who you associate with very carefully, get a degree and give it several years then start applying with an agency. You are now a young adult and you will have to prove you are a responsible adult.

Thanks for the response. I hear exactly what you're saying. It was just bad judgment and now I have to deal with it. For cannabis it was for experimental use only. Like I said earlier I'd never ever smoke it again. Not even if someone paid me. As for hanging out with those so called friends, I haven't in over a year. I've actually never even talked to them since. I had enough of their crap. So do you think getting a bachelors degree or higher would give me a better shot?


As a after thought, its unfortunate about your family medical issues and losing your grandparents, however I would not suggest trying to make excuses for your actions. Everyone has family issues etc, but not everyone "acts out" as you have called it.

This "acting out" and the reasons you feel are behind it may cause you issues during a physc evaluation that EVERY agency performs on LE candidates. Also while it does not hurt to be in good shape when pursuing a LE position it is not nearly as important as your past and current conduct, education etc. You should concentrate just as much effort if not more in your education and future responsible desicions, etc.

I understand completely. It was just a hard time for me and I chose the stupid way to react to it. I'm already on the right track and will never associate or make stupid decisions like my previous past has indicated.

These are the requirements for the department I'd most likely apply at.
-Be 21
-Be a US citizen
-Be in general good health and have sufficient strength
-Has a high school diploma or GED
-Be free of felony and Class A and B misdemeanor convictions
-Have good hearing, normal color vision, and depth perception
-Good educational and/or work record.

For me I feel that I'd qualify under these regulations.
-I'd wait till I'm older then 21 to let all past police encounters get more time between applying
-I'm a US Citizen
-I have good strength and endurance
-I have never been convicted of a crime
-I have great hearing and listening skills
-I'm applying to be a security officer to get more experience and have the closest thing to LEO as I can.
-And If and when I get a bachelors degree in CJ that'll put me in good standings for education.

What do you guys think? I'm just trying to get advice and first hand experience so I know if I'll have a chance. Like I've said earlier, I've made stupid mistakes and I'll be the first to admit to them. This is something that I really want, that's all.