DQ/Deferral Question

[Kolari]

I don't have any contact with any officers right now, however, I would like to get some info from people on this forum about my case.

A little bit of my background. I am 22 years old and I am currently in my 4th year of a Bachelors degree program. I have always been interested in becoming a Law Enforcement but I wasn't sure where to start. I have been thinking of applying to several schools, after graduating from my current one; for example, getting a diploma in relation to Law Enforcement studies. I am also thinking about applying to a municipal police department (in Canada) in the future.

In the past, I've never been arrested, did drugs, got drunk, raped someone, fired from my job, given a ticket, etc. To sum it up, I've never been involved with the police and I have a clean record to prove it. I'm a hardworking, honest and calm guy that enjoys helping people and I am not known to be violent. I have had three previous steady (2 part-time/1 full-time) jobs unrelated to Law Enforcement, while studying full-time at the University. However, I had to quit because of the workload at school. The majority of my co-workers and employers have told me that I am welcome to come back in the future, therefore, I have positive references available upon request. However I have done something that I live to regret today.

When I was younger, 14 or 15 (Grade 8 or 9), I was downloading videos from Kazaa. Back then, Napster/Kazaa were new and popular programs that allowed you to search for anything and download them from other people. One day, I discovered that one of the videos (unintentionally) showed an underage child being exploited. I should have stopped immediately and deleted the file, however, being a curious young fellow, I searched (intentionally) for 3 or 4 more videos of teenagers around my age (14-16) and was able to download them from other users. After viewing them, I got disgusted at what people are doing to these children and deleted them - I have never searched for it again. This incident has changed the way I viewed the world.

I understand what I did was wrong and have committed a crime. I should have never watched those videos, and brought shame to myself. I will be honest when it comes to the interview/polygraph test. I don't want to hide anything from the examiners and interviewers. I was wondering if this will potentially disqualify me from the selection process and end my hopes in working in the law enforcement.

Also, I have downloaded music, movies and programs online - I believe this would fall under the category of stealing and I will tell them about this. Would listening and watching music/movies from YouTube fall under the same category (stealing)?

Other than the things I have already discussed, I should have nothing else (negative) to reveal to them about my past.

Thank you in advance.

[DeltaV]

First, YouTube isn't stealing. You aren't downloading copyrighted material and YouTube is a legitimate website that takes copyright issues a lot more seriously than Napster or Kazaa did.

Secondly, I wouldn't worry too much about the music and movie downloads as long as you don't continue to do it. Yes, technically you're violating copyright laws, however that usually does not rise to the level of criminal conduct unless other conditions are met. It's still wrong and you should not continue to do it, however downloading music and videos in the past is not something that is going to get you disqualified from a LE job. In fact, I think you'd be pretty hard pressed to find someone in their 20s to early 30s who has not downloaded music off of Napster sometime in its heyday.

Finally, the sexual videos do present a problem. Yes, downloading them was a crime. That said, your situation is a bit different from a 25 year old downloading videos of young children. You were a young teenager downloading videos of other teenagers your age because you were curious. You realized that this was wrong and you stopped doing it. I doubt it will cause you problems during the hiring process as long as you explain it as you have here.

[Kolari]

Thank you DeltaV for clarifying these issues - it's nice to get these things off my chest. I will explain exactly what I wrote here.

[Kimble]

I am 22 years old and I am currently in my 4th year of a Bachelors degree program... Would listening and watching music/movies from YouTube fall under the same category (stealing)?

You're 22 years old and college educated, and this was too difficult to reason out? Life gets a lot more challenging than this.

[Kolari]

You're 22 years old and college educated, and this was too difficult to reason out? Life gets a lot more challenging than this.

I wanted to make sure that it wouldn't be a huge issue during the interview/polygraph test. There are music/movies on YouTube that may have violated the copyright agreement. I have listened/watched these music and movies before they were taken down. Theoretically, this would still fall under the same category of stealing regardless of whether it's on YouTube or not; even if YouTube takes copyright issues more seriously.