Will my background pass?

[thehitman]

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[retdetsgt]

If you're talking about Portland, Oregon, no. The continuing history of theft would be enough, the mushroom would just be the icing. The other drug use drags you down even more.

PPB will allow a little experimental use of marijuana, but that's it. You're driving record also sucks.

Put that all together and you won't qualify. I'm retired from there, they like people with much cleaner records than you. Not being arrested doesn't mean they won't find all that out when they do a background. If you lie about any of it and they learn one thing you lied about, you're gone. Better forget it.

[thehitman]

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[retdetsgt]

Applying is free (or used to be, at least) so go ahead.

The fact it happened when you were young is good, the fact it continued for at least three years is not good and I strongly suspect the firing from Walgreens will take you out. And any hallucinogen is an automatic DQ though as far as I know.

I'd fill out the app., be real honest on everything and see what happens. Like I said, if you lie about the littlest thing and they find out, that's a DQ forever. Honesty is too important an asset in this job. And yeah, people do dumb stuff as teenagers, but stealing is an ethics problem. You should have had your ethics in place by that age.

To be blunt, there was a time that they would have tossed your application in the trash immediately and told you to forget it. But now they are struggling to hire so they might give you a chance, but don't count on much. Even though you were a teenager, you made some horrible decisions involving honesty. They have to worry about what you might do if you're hired because you will have lots of opportunities to steal. You made yourself a pretty bad history to try to be a cop. But as I said, you can try, I'm not the last word on it.

[thehitman]

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[retdetsgt]

It is really funny, I was only a teenager. I am not sure that there are many people out there that knew that they wanted to become LEOs at the age of 15.

I had no intention of being a cop when I was fifteen. In fact I never thought of applying until I saw the hiring bulletin in the civil service office. But long before that I knew it was wrong to steal. I think I pretty much had that ethics in place at about 10 years old.

Stealing something as a lark when you're a kid is one thing. You continued a pattern, ending with being fired for it. Blaming other people for your behavior isn't going to cut it either. A lot of cops were raised by single moms and did fine.

You have enough obvious flags (being fired and driving record) that they are going to look at you very closely and interview a lot of people. And a lot more people that you list as references (what references say are pretty much ignored). Portland doesn't do a hiring polygraph, they find out about you the old fashioned way, they investigate the hell out of your past.

I'm not trying to rag on you for what you've done in the past, I hope you've sincerely turned your life around and wish you the best of luck. But I don't think you're much of a police candidate with your history of dishonesty and drugs. Time isn't going to erase that, well maybe 10 to 15 years of exemplary living. And three speeding tickets is a lot. I think one more and you're license goes away..... That's a bigger issue than I think you realize.

You might try getting on as an unpaid reserve in one of the little towns (Mollala or someplace like that) and see what happens. But bear in mind, there are a lot of people with clean records that are doing that to get hired full time.

The only other thing that "might" help, and I mean might, is to enlist in the military and do a full hitch with no problems. Good military service can make up for some past sins, but in your case, I really don't know.

[thehitman]

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[Emax503]

Your BG is rough. But interesting. Good luck.

[thehitman]

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[retdetsgt]

WOW. I kind of wish I never posted anything on this forum or any forum at that matter, lol. Just kind of confused and lost.

Personally, I never understood why people ask such important questions on an anonymous forum anyway instead of just going and applying. Or at least asking someone face to face at the dept. they're applying to.

[thehitman]

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[William]

I am not a LEO yet, but in the process. As has been said before, as an officer you may be entrusted with many things that could be stolen by someone with that mindset, as well as having to testify under oath in court.

You are blowing off the pattern of theft with the excuse that you were young and there was peer pressure. Keep in mind that the very position you are looking into would have you arresting people that did exactly what you did. What if you got caught each time you committed theft back then? You then may have had multiple arrests on record for theft and would be seen as having a criminal background with convictions at any agency you applied to. Will it look any less severe to a B.I. just because you weren't caught for each incident?

I am not a B.I., but common sense tells me that they will look very closely at that, and as has been said before, there will be many other applicants without that in their background. Of course that doesn't even include the drug use. I'm not trying to discourage you from applying, just laying some things on the table that will be looked at.

[phantasm]

Hello, I had a few quick questions. I want to apply next year, when you will be doing hiring. The problem is that I do not want to waste my time or your departments. These are the quick things that I did wrong growing up.

Theft

-I stole from my mom over a period of two years, from age 13-15. I stole about 200 dollars total.

- I stole 140 dollars from my grandma when I was 14

- I stole a dvd players from my neighbor that just moved into our apartment building. They had left the sliding door open and I was pressured by an older high school student to steal dvd player. Which I did and the high school student then took it from me. I was 14 years old when this happened.

- Also we own a drycleaning business, when I was 14 I used to run the store on saturdays and would sneak a few dollars into my pocket. I am guessing this amount was less the 50- 60 dollars.

- I used to work at burger king when I was 14 and I would give some of my friends free food. This was probably around 50-60 dollars. Also there was two times when someone left thier purse at burger king. I was basically peer pressured to take money out of the purses. I stole a total of 200.00 dollars, I was 14 years old. But there is no excuses and I take full responsibilty.

- When I was 15, two of my friends spent the night at my house. One friend had his license and a new car stereo. Me and a freind took it out of his car as a prank and the next day we told him that his stereo was stolen and instead of telling him it was a prank, when ended up keep his stereo and sold it. The stereo was worth 100 dollars.

Termination from Walgreens

WhenI was 17, I was fired from Walgreens because I had sold a stolen Ipod and game system and a cell phone to two of the employees at work. The managers some how found out and I was fired shortly after. I bought those things in high school for a cheap price, so I knew that those items must be stolen. Also buying the stolen items stated above, I also purchashed a mp3 player, another ipod, and a cellphone. I am not sure if these items were stolen but I just that I would add this on, just in case.

Drugs
- I have used marijuana 4-5 times and the last time I used it was when I was 17 and it has been 6 years.

- I tried one mushroom when I was 14

- I also tried two vicodin pills when I was in 7th grade.

Traffic- I have three speeding tickets in the last 5 years.


This is basically the most important part of the BG. So I was wondering, am I wasting my time by applying with Portland Police. Also I have no criminal record, I have never been arrested. And I meet all the qualifcations on the recruitment website. But these are some factors that keep bothering me.

A burglary, multiple larceny's, embezelment, and separate receiving of stolen property/criminal possession stolen property, as well as criminal possession of controlled substance.

Doesn't look good. You show a strong pattern of theft and disregard for people's personal property, including family members.

[thehitman]

Well that is why When I do apply, it will have been 10 plus years since these things have happened. now I think ten years of not stealing will hopefully show that my "pattern of theft" is no longer a pattern and is somethingbi did when I was younger. Do you think my thinking is wrong and I should focus my efforts on a different career? Or keep trying with other departments?

[phantasm]

Well that is why When I do apply, it will have been 10 plus years since these things have happened. now I think ten years of not stealing will hopefully show that my "pattern of theft" is no longer a pattern and is somethingbi did when I was younger. Do you think my thinking is wrong and I should focus my efforts on a different career? Or keep trying with other departments?

If you are going to college, pursue something other than a law enforcement specific field, and do that other field while you attempt to get into LE.