Turned Down Before Hired: Part 2

[Scoop]

Someone asked some questions about this topic in another thread, but being that I'm not (yet) a verified LEO, I could not comment. I believe that the following story is appropriate, though.

A year+ ago, I asked the same question. I had applied with my local PD, but was turned down without an explanation. I left a couple of messages for the Sergeant (a week or so apart), but to no avail. Essentially, they refused to answer WHY I was DQ'd.

Many of the LEOs here were basically supportive, but several of them decided that it was their place to tell me to stop trying to find out WHY, don't expect an answer, it was none of my business and deal with it, it was improper etiquette, yada yada yada.

Well, here's a reason to NOT give up:

I was a bit discouraged after this, but decided that I would not let it get me down. Still, I did not understand WHY I was DQ'd - I'm a decent guy, no criminal record, good driving record, no drugs, yada yada. I continued working F/T in my normal career (IT) while continuing to pursue my AAS in CJ.

About six months ago, I applied for the reserve program for one of the larger counties in SW Michigan. A couple months later, I went in front of the oral board (there were about 60 of us there that day). We were told that, no matter what the outcome of our BI was, we would be contacted.

Well, about a month and a half go by - it's a few days from the start of the fall academy - and I've heard NOTHING. So I contacted the Commander. He told me that, for some reason, I was "not eligible" due to something that "came up" during my BI. I asked him what it was, but he said that Internal Affairs performs the BI's and that they simply get a thumbs up or a thumbs down - but NO details. He told me that, if I wanted to try to find out, I'd have to contact the Deputy Chief.

Over the course of the next couple of weeks, several emails went between myself, the DC and the Commander - most of which were communication problems between the two of them.

Anyways, one of the final emails from the DC told me, basically, that there must have been something in my NICS, but that he did not know, nor was he able to ascertain the reasoning. I told him that I had a clean criminal history and couldn't understand why I was DQ'd. The Deputy Chief told me that, if I wanted to try to obtain a copy of my NICS and fax it to him, he'd take it to IA and ask them what the deal was. So I did. It came back clean and I sent it over to him.

A couple of weeks go by, and I heard nothing. Zippo. Zilch. Nada. Nill.

Figuring that I was pretty much toast, I decided to send the DC one last email message. I wanted to express my disappointment with the fact that they could DQ a person for some "department standard", yet they could not or would not identify just exactly WHAT standard it was that s/he had not met. So I typed up a terse and pithy email message, sent it on it's way and expected to never hear from that particular SO again.

But wasn't I surprised when, the next day, my inbox contained another message from the Deputy Chief. Mind you that, through most of this, this high-ranking DC in a county of over 2,000,000 residents probably had much more important things to do than worry about some silly reserve deputy applicant who had been DQ'd.

His message?

"Sorry that I did not get back to you. But good news. You are eligible for the Reserve unit. It seems that you got caught in a paperwork issue that is not easily solved." <snip>

Needless to say, I start the 18-week academy after the first of the year. In fact, I was told by the Commander that he was impressed with my persistence throughout the past couple of months, and that he was glad that I did persevere versus giving up.

Moral of the story: Despite what SOME people may tell you, it's a GOOD thing to be persistent and to not give up. Just because you weren't hired the first or second or twelfth time around, don't give up.

And - while remembering to be tactful and considerate when doing it - it's not WRONG to ask WHY or to inquire for explanations.

Footnote: I found out why I was DQ’d from that first local PD: they hired (their reserves are paid positions) five people who had already attended a reserve police academy, because this saves them the expense of sending people on the city’s dime. Ironic part: I belong to a private gun club, and we let that department use the indoor range for their training and certification, and I happened to go there to do some shooting on the day they were certifying the five new recruits. They were running over (time limit) and they were scrambling to finish up to get out of my way, but I told them, "No problem. You can go ahead and finish your qualifying."