Need some help

[zellowyebra]

I recently applied to my local police department and went throught the disclosure interview and everything went well. Then after I remembered something stupid I did. Someone at my old part time job two years ago robbed the vending machine. Another employee told me and then we found a drawer full of chocolate bars. We were pretty sure where they came from and we ate one. I felt bad the next day and bought like six of them and put them in that drawer. I should have told management but I didn't because I was afraid of being blamed, fired, charged, etc. I know it was stupid and I learned from it. I phoned my file manager and was honest about it and told her about. She seemed really disappointed. She said she would push me through for now but........and stopped there. I was then really worried and sent her an e-mail asking what would happen now and saying I don't want to go to jail or have a criminal record because even if i get DQ'd I can still be a teacher. I was honest but do you really think this was very serious? I do and I really feel bad about it. Was that e0mail appropriate?

[mcsap]

Is the company owed any $$ from this ? If so , send them a check to coverit and if there was damage caused, enough to cover that as well. Two years isn't a lot of time but hopefully your background otherwise is good.

Since there was no arrest and in all lilelihood the statute of limitations has run out , it is going to be a slight blemish but it shouldn't be a huge deal, especially if you " make them whole" for any loss.

[zellowyebra]

I'm not sure what you mean. I replaced what I took but they never ever found out about it and no arrests were made because they never found out who did it. Even today I don't know who did it. It was a seperate company that ran the vending machine. All I heard was that someone robbed it, we found a drawer full of chocolate bars and we ate one. We figured they probably came from the robbery of the vending machine but didn't think we did anything wrong. Obviously that was wrong and we thought about it and arrived at that conclusion. We tried to fix it by replacing what we took and actually, we felt so bad that we bought five extra ones and threw them in there as well. I never looked in that drawer again. I have no idea what happened to the rest of the stuff.

The only other real blemish I have is this. My uncle used to talk about these people who sell cheap stuff where he works. I was in university and didn't have alot of money and asked if they ever sold razor blades. He said yes and i asked if it was possible if he could get some. I figured they could be stolen but I didn't know for sure. He then went to his washroom and gave me some and said just take these, they're his and he can get them cheap if he needs too. i took them and threw them in a drawer and forgot about them. When it came time to use them I realized it was a mistake and threw them away without using them. I asked my uncle about it after and he said they weren't stolen. The only reason I took them was because they came from my uncle. If he had gone and got them from someone else I wouldn't have taken them. My file manager didn't seem to think this was too serious but I don't know for sure. The only bad thing is this happened last year.

I don't really live like this though. This is probably the only two times anything like this ever happened to me. I learned from it though. Last summer these two guys came around selling DVD players and speakers from a van for cheap and I could have used them but clearly they were stolen and I told them to get lost.

Also, I'm only 23 now and I honestly do feel that I have grown up alot since these two events occured.

Either way she still wants me to come in for a behavioural interview, so I don't know if thats good or bad.

[zellowyebra]

Sorry, just found out how to add to my previous post so moved it up there.

[636ninja]

So more than once you took something you pretty much knew was stolen? A chocolate bar or razor blades may not seem like a big deal to you...but to your Department, it is the fact that you showed a lack of integrity.

I understand that everyone makes mistakes, but a Sergeant of mine explained it this way: mistakes of the mind we can fix, but mistakes of the heart we cannot.

You have to know the difference between right and wrong. In this line of work, your integrity means everything. When it comes to matters of the heart, your Department and your shift partners (not to mention the judges) need to know that you're going to do the right thing...ALL the time, and without question. When it comes to matters of the mind (meaning you just plain screwed something up), you can't just throw things in a drawer and hope that your problems will go away. They need to know that you will be a man, fess up and take your medicine and deal with the consequences.

Not trying to be hard on you...but now that I've explained it, can you understand why your file manager was disappointed?

Wait and see what happens; you may be fine. But if you get DQ'd, I'd suggest waiting a couple more years. Perhaps putting a few years between a mistake and your application can make a difference. But make sure you don't have any more mistakes of the heart during that time...no matter how insignificant they may seem.

[Creeker]

... I was honest but do you really think this was very serious? I do and I really feel bad about it. Was that e0mail appropriate?

OK, I've been contemplating responding to this for a few hours, and since you came here to ask the questions, I am assuming you want honest answers. Since I am retired and don't have to be PC, I'll give you one.

If you are going to get your panties in a wad, stop reading my response right now... I'll wait....
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I think you are making a mountain out of a mole hill. I think you should have left well-enough alone until the process went any further, and if it did, you should have come clean at that point, since now that you've remembered it, it is going to bother you.

As it looks now (and I'll reserve any speculation for another day) you are worried that something else may have popped up as to your honesty, and you are now giving an excuse for what *may* pop up.

I don't think there are too many Cops out here that didn't do something they aren't proud of when they were growing up... even illegal. These are the things that you tell them up front. Hell, I was sneaking soda's out of my grandfathers soda machine when I was 16. I knew it when they asked me, I told them about it. There's no way I would have "forgotten" about it, even though I knew that if I'd asked, he'd have given them to me himself... it was just more "thrilling" to take them.

I think that you *suddenly* remembering this is suspect and the e-mail, if for any other reasons such as distraction, was immature.

[zellowyebra]

I appreciate your guys answers. But I really honestly did remember after the interview. And I know I should have fessed up and I told mangement I found a whole bunch of chocolate bars, and I told her that. As for my uncle, he used to play pro football and growing up I remember him knowing tons of people so I figured he knew someone. I figured it was always possible they could have been stolen but they probably weren't coming from him.

[zellowyebra]

Okay, so I finally talked to my file manager. She told me that as long as the story I told her was true, which it was, it's not a big deal. She told me all my scores on the testing and interviewing I've done so far are pretty high and that while most applicants have to ace it I just have to pass it. But that was before I told her that last story. Just figured iI'd let you know what happened. Eitherway, she told me she will have me continue on in the process and then assess my scores at the end of that interview. That may be just her way of saying, I'll let you do the interview because it has already been scheduled but then I will defer you. But who knows? I guess I'll find out soon enough.

Anyway, considering all my other "qualifications", which are a Bachelor of Education degree, an EMR certificate, extensive volunteer work with children and the elderly, and a reference from my cousin who has been a cop on the same force I've applied to for six years, do you think it's likely that would happen? Either way I'm prepared. if I have to come back later, I have to come back later. What are you gonna do?

I know they can defer you for basically anything they want, but do you think it is something that would happen even if my interview went really well?

I know it all depends on my file manager, etc. but I just thought I'd hear some different opinions.