Background...Do I have a shot?

[hawk77]

I am currently interested in being a police officer but I have some questions regarding my background. I am 22 yrs old and enrolled in college and planning on graduating soon. I have never done drugs or been arrested. I have a couple minor infractions that involve taking stuff from past employers (less than $5.00 worth, no money). I have done some volunteer work in the past as well.What really worries me is an incident that happened over a year and a half ago. I was using a file sharing program to download porn. I downloaded a file that appeared to be legit, and when it started downloading the file name changed to something with regard to it being underage. When I saw it, it wasn't anything illegal, in fact it was of an older couple in their 30s. Most of the files weren't bad, but some things I saw shocked me. I deleted the files immediately, and if I opened a file and saw that it might be bad, I deleted it before I saw anything of a sexual nature. All in all, I saw about 10 items. I didn't keep any items, and got rid of them immediately, and I deleted any items that may have been illegal before I saw any sexual material. My problem is that I did download files even though I was not looking for that. I For weeks following the event I was in a terrible mood and felt just awful. I tried to forget about it but had a tough time. I did go to the National Center for Exploited and Missing Children a few months after the incident. It took a while to file the report because I didn't know what to do or how to go about doing it, plus I didn't want to have anything to do with what I had seen. After about a month or so went by I totally forgot about it and didn't even think about it. Then I tested with a police agency and I began thinking about the incident that happened because I thought it might come up. I wasn't entirely truthful with that agency, and I failed a polygraph. I realize that I won't be able to test with the same agency, but I would love a shot with another agency if any would give me the chance. I think about it just about everyday, and it kills me. Since the incident took place, over a 1.5 yrs ago, I have kept my nose clean, and have tried to live a model life. Does anyone think that I'll have a shot in the near future or in the future at all even if I let time pass? I know that it will be a tough hurdle to jump, but it's killing me not to know if there is a chance. Sorry for the length, but I didn't want to hold anything back.

[mxwelch]

Why would you lie about something illegal you had no intention of doing in the first place? You didn't break the law, IMO, because you didn't intend or want to view child porn. It would've probably been a couple of questions about it and nothing more. I fear you've forever made yourself "damaged goods" by lying to an agency. I won't speculate on whether you can or cannot get hired in the future, I'll leave that to a LEO. I will say that if you lie about something as minor as an unintended viewing of child porn then what will you do when a real problem arises?

[jmur5074]

Well, I'm still waiting to get verified here, so you can take my advice or leave it. But here's my take.
1) You lied to an agency, and agencies do talk. The results of your previous poly could show up in the future during a BI.
2) You said you downloaded stuff that had "innapropriate names". Innapropriate meaning they had adult porn names? Or innapropriate meaning you knew they may have pictures/videos of children? If you had good reason to believe those files contained children, that's not good.
3) You said you stole items in the past, worth $5.00 or less, but have never been arrested. Have you ever been cited for theft? In MN, you are automatically barred from being a LEO if you've EVER stolen ANYTHING.

I might be completely off base here, but it almost sounds like you have a slight fascination with child porn, but don't want to admit it. I don't know, but if I'm correct in any way, you might want to seek psychological help. Then again, I could be cmopletely wrong. I guess I really don't have enough information, and I'm no psychologist. I'll be perfectly honest though, the fact that you've lied in the past, have (possibly) knowingly looked at Child Pornography, and have stolen items, of any value, regardless of whether you were cited for it or not, will make it hard to get a job. Your best bet, as I'm sure you've figured out is to be honest about your past, and try and show you've changed. But, it's always good to hear other peoples opinions too...