Help!I need advice about background checks!

[broncojockey]

I've had a few citations in my past, and a recent traffic ticket.I was hoping someone could tell me how this would look. I'll give you guys a quick rundown:

2 underage drinking citations in college in PA
1 citation for open container of alcohol in PA
( these may be hard to find by a BI, unless he checks PA county court records)

1 ticket for careless driving given by NJ State Police(happened 5 days ago on a wet road,had a fender bender,no injuries to anyone,minor damage to other car,thinking about fighting it in court,but probably a waste of time)

Otherwise, my record is clean.I have a 4 yr. criminal justice degree from a PA state school, 8 mths. of private security exp., and a "basic working knowledge" of Spanish. I have worked on and off since I was 17,(I'm 23 now)good work record,although I have had periods of unemployment during college. I am applying to the Secret Service Uniform Division, as well as the NJ Transit Police,and the NYPD.Do I have a chance,given my background, or should I look for another career?:eek: Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Stump]

FYI - if you attended college in PA, your background dude will be checking PA records (if he is any good at all, that is).
How long ago were these tickets? Since it was underage, I am guessing 3-4 years ago? What were the circumstances behind those? The BI may suspect a drinking problem....
Waste of time to fight a ticket in court? If you believe you are right, then I would fight it. You cannot use the excuse "It was a waste of time to fight this ticket, but I assure you it was bogus, so just ignore that" when you talk to the BI.
Any breaks (it varies, but in general they mean 3 months or more) in employment need to be fully explained, so make sure you have a good enough reason for them.
Be careful not to tout your Spanish skills too much... they might have someone on the panel that speaks it and could try to test you. I understand Italian and Spanish, but am not comfortable with speaking it all the time. Even though I have this skill, I do not put that on my job application (I do note that I have had X # of years of Spanish/Italian classes though). When it came time for the interview, I explained that I grew up with Italian, etc.... Of course, if you are borderline good applicant, you may want the extra "points" for speaking another language.

[yangnome]

First, whether or not they find the court records in PA shouldn't matter. You should disclose these up front on your background paperwork. If you don't and they do find tehm, you will not get hired.

As to whether or not you'll pass the backgound, I'd imagin it will depend on the agency. I don't think you've killed teh chance at a career for life, but looking at what you've posted, tehre is a pattern of behavior. With three drinking offences, it looks like you didn't have much respect for teh law, or learn from it and change your behavior after you recieved the cites.

[broncojockey]

During the background check phase, do you get a chance to explain a careless driving offense,which looks bad unless you can explain that no real damage or injury was caused and the roads were wet. I could submit a copy of the police report to show proof that no damages occured,plus arecord that I fought it. Of course, I plan to fight it and win:rolleyes: so all this would be irrelevant anyway:cool:

[yangnome]

It still probably won't be irrelevant. You'll still probably have to list all tickets you've recieved despite guilt or innocence. Of course, being found not guilty wouldn't hurt when they look into it.

When it comes to the BI, instead of making excuses, accept responsibility for what you did. This will actually work to your favor. For exapmle, with the reckless driving, explain that you were driving too quickly for the wet conditions and caused an accident. Explain how you learned from it. This will help show maturity and responsibility. If you blame everything you've done on someone else or some outside factor, it won't look good.

[txinvestigator1]

I agree with yangnome. Take responsibility for your behavior.

3 alcohol violations in College may seem insignificant, but it makes me wonder about your ability to learn from wrong behavior. Be really prepared to explain those, and how you have changed and today would not participate in ANY unlawful behavior.

[broncojockey]

I agree with you guys.....also, I'm sure background investigators could write the book on all the BS excuses they've heard about people's past scrapes with the law. Chances are they have probably already formed on opinion on an applicant based on the offenses,so I agree......it's better to own up to past "indescretions" and mistakes. If I don't get hired, at least I can feel like a man about it and own all my past mistakes, rather than to feel like I was trying to make excuses to cover things up,and not get hired anyway. And like everyone says, it does depend on the dept., as well as other factors as to how heavy a factor background is. I heard a story from my college Criminal Justice prof about a guy he had in class who was brandishing an unloaded shotgun,and got arrested, now he's a PA state trooper.A good freind of mine knew a girl who used LSD all through high school, and now works for the PA state police. Also, a girl in my town was engaged to a guy known locally as "crackhead james" who smoked so much crack his front teeth turned black. She is now in her 5th year as a cop in my town.(it didn't hurt that her pops is a jersey city police captain), but of course, there's no politics involved in police hiring.:rolleyes:

[rdp]

Certain BI's and depts. want to know all your police contacts whether cited or not. Depending upon the depth they want to go, will dictate how much they want.

Be up front and honest. You lie or hide something, you will be DQ'd and blackballed. Whenever you apply at a dept., they ask if you have applied anywhere else. They check with those depts. to see if and why you were DQ'd. They ask for disclosures to cover all of this legal ground.

Your background shows some maturity but your offenses take away from it........but these aren't major offenses and I would stress about them. Your age and date since the citations are an issue.

[Charlie]

broncojockey--

"2 underage drinking citations in college in PA
1 citation for open container of alcohol in PA
( these may be hard to find by a BI, unless he checks PA county court records)"


Dude, I AM a B.I. and trust me,...I WILL be checking on this kind of stuff and I WILL find out things about an applicant!:eek: AND, finding out this stuff you're referring to is not that hard...:rolleyes: C'mon,...I've gone to college too as well as a lot of other people here have as well!

Heed the excellent advice you're getting so far. The worst thing you can do is lie...

Oh yeah: generally from what you've described about your past, I don't think this is anything that will permanently disqualify you from getting the job somewhere...BUT,...you can count on the fact you will be asked about it!
--
Charlie

[kelly]

you definately should tell them they will find your PA record they will check everywhere you've lived for a civil and criminal records. The whole underage drinking thing is hard to call its not a big deal because most college students get them but to some departments it is a big deal but you should definately tell them.

[txinvestigator1]

I strongly disagree that MOST college students get MIP's or DUI's.

Whether it is a big deal or not is slightly more subjective.

[mcsap]

COMPLETELY acknowledge and confess EVERYTHING you did as far as arrests and tickets. Walk out of their so clean that you squeak knowing that there is NO WAY anyone will ever cam e back to you and say " why didn't you tell us about the underage alcohol citation you got ?" If you hide or lie about ANYTHING , you will either get DQ'ed or if found out later, could be grounds for dismissal.

The PA alcohol vio's resulted in a mandatory drivers license suspension. Even though it was a summary offense and you were not prinyed or photographed, the entry on your driving record of a suspension from another state will cause a check to be made.

Bottom line. Now is not the time to lie or hide ANYTHING. Be 100% truthful, admit you made some mistakes. That is the first step towards a prospective employer believing that you won't repeat this type of thing or worse.