Police Officer Preparation & Law Enforcement Resource - Archive

Hello there. My is is William and I hope to one day join the ranks of law enforcement officers. Let me start off by saying that I live in Indiana and I will give you a bit of background information.

Being a law enforcement officer is the only thing that's ever interested me as a career. I have no delusions as to what the job is. I know it's a lot of paperwork and a lot of long hours. I do realize it isn't about chasing down drug lords and jumping across roofs. I have simply never had an interest in anything else and law enforcement is what I want to do with my life. I am 20 years old and will be applying to my local department in Feb. 2014 (That is the next time available their annual hiring cycle).

I've focused on getting myself in shape, mentally and physically, for this career. I've lost 70 pounds, got my running speed and distance up and am attending college for a degree in Criminal Justice. One of my goals of getting in shape was joining the National Guard because I thought it would help me get in shape, get a preliminary training of sorts, gain stronger focus, build teamwork, become a stronger person and of course it looks look on a resume. When I applied I was rejected from the Guard.

I have no criminal background (never so much as touched alcohol or drugs), have no tattoos, passed my physical with flying colors and scored a 98 on my ASVAB. I was rejected because I went to a therapist for two session two years ago. Now the details I won't go into but I was immature, having relationship troubles and was generally a confused teenager. I went for two sessions, realized therapy wasn't for me and ducked out. I must have said a lot of things to the therapist in that time because the military took one look at it and said "No."

I assume that this already disqualifies me from federal or goverment services. CIA, FBI, US Marshals, etc. But does this disqualify me from serving on my local PD (City, State or Sheriff)? Will they be able to find out and reject me on that basis without considering anything else?

I have since matured and am no longer any sort of the person I was during my teens. I was confused and looking for answers. I found them, grew up and moved on. I would sincerely hate to think that I ruined my career over something so stupid and petty that happened years ago because I didn't know how to deal with my emotions and hormones.

I appreciate the answers in advance and I thank you sincerely for reading and replying.

That's pretty vague. I bet there's more to it if the military rejected you. And local agencies are as picky as federal when it comes to psychological issues. There's a hell of a lot of potential for liability by putting someone out there with a gun.

Well that sucks. To be clear, much as I hate talking about it, the issue being that I cheated on my girlfriend of the time (she's now my wife), the girl I cheated with was still hanging around and I knew nothing about how to do deal with what I did or how I was going to deal with the girl or gain my girlfriend's trust back. I tried a lot of fixes, nothing worked. Instead of manning up, talking it out, ditching the girl and owning up to my mistake I stupidly thought a therapist would have some magic answers regarding how to fix what I broke.

After two sessions, I realized that the therapist was only telling me to look inside myself and talk it out with my girlfriend. I also realized that I could do that for free at home.

I dropped the therapy and later tried to get into the Guard. I was very, very, very angry with myself at the time (which didn't help anything), said some rash things I did not mean (about injuring myself and no one else) and I suppose what the therapist wrote in her notes got me rejected. I have come to terms with what I did, embraced a philosophy that has greatly improved my life, gained my wife's trust and have never felt so bad ever again. I have no one to blame but myself and I just hate to think I now have student debts for nothing and that the only career I ever wanted is closed off to me because of this. It stinks to think that because I said some stupid things that I didn't mean as a teenager, I am now a man screwed out of a career. Like I said though, no one to blame but myself.

Lotsa cops eat their guns so the suicidal ideations will be hard to overcome, but who knows? You have to pass a police psychological exam. You can try.

In most states, every law enforcement candidate is evaluated to determine if they are free from any emotional or mental condition that might adversely affect the exercise of the powers of a police officer, and to otherwise ensure that the candidate is capable of withstanding the psychological demands of the position.

Whether you can be hired will depend on your mental state at the time of processing, as determined through a series of written and in person psychological evaluations as administered by the department's licensed psychologist.

@Retdetsgt

See that's what I figure will screw me. I'm confident that I could pass literally everything else but with the high stress and high suicide rate among officers I figure that's gonna be a red big flashing sign saying "DO NOT HIRE". I said it offhandedly, didn't mean it and forgot it about it until the Guard rejected me. I'm not certain if it's an automatic disqualification like it is in the military, if the PD psych exam is more important or if I would even have the chance to explain what happened.

@L-1

Hmm. That would be fine. I could most definitely pass any psych exam I took nowadays (or at the very least I strongly believe I could)

OK, lets go back and read my post again

Whether you can be hired will depend on your mental state at the time of processing, as determined through a series of written and in person psychological evaluations as administered by the department's licensed psychologist.

This is not a background investigation, It is an evaluation of where you head is at the time you apply. If you have your act together - no problem. OTOH if your growth, maturity level and people skills are still lacking then it will be a no go. FWIW, here is some of what the psych exam screens for in my state http://lib.post.ca.gov/Publications/psychological-traits.pdf

Thank you L-1. I believe I understood it the first time and I appreciate the link. The first half of my post was answering the post above yours. I could only assume that considering they do background investigations into crimes and such, that they would also do an investigation into previous psych conditions (whether you took anger management, were committed to an asylum, took medications, attended therapy and the like). It seems logical that they would take these into consideration when doing the psych exam for the hiring process.

It may not be the entirety of the exam but you would figure that they would at least take previous conditions into consideration when giving the current psych exam. Which was (and is) what concerns me. Again thank you both for you replies.