Yes, another background question...

[jleible]

A quick rundown of my situation. I have smoked marijuana once in 2001. I have three speeding tickets: 2006, 2008, 2009. I used a fake ID one time in 2006 and then got rid it. I bought alcohol for my fiance a couple times when she was 20, over two years ago. I drove moderately intoxicated once in 2006, the only time I ever drank and drove.

Now to the good stuff. I am on track to graduate with honors with a bachelors in finance in May. I have just finished 6 years in the National Guard with a deployment to Iraq from.2007-2008. I also held a leadership position.

I am considering applying with the local PD. I'm looking for am opinion of whether or not the good will outweigh the bad. Thanks for the help folks!

[Citicop]

Welcome to the forum!

Police hiring is not a "scale" where the good can outweigh the bad. None of the bad you listed will disqualify you automatically, and you have a lot of good points for them to look at too. Be honest about everything, you have as good a shot as anyone else, IMHO.

And thank you for you service.

-Citicop.

[Kimble]

Police hiring is not a "scale" where the good can outweigh the bad. None of the bad you listed will disqualify you automatically, and you have a lot of good points for them to look at too. Be honest about everything, you have as good a shot as anyone else, IMHO.

Couldn't have said it better, apply and be honest about everything. Good luck!

[jleible]

Wow, apparently I type like a caveman on a touch screen phone.

[benseventeen]

A quick rundown of my situation. I have smoked marijuana once in 2001. I have three speeding tickets: 2006, 2008, 2009. I used a fake ID one time in 2006 and then got rid it. I bought alcohol for my fiance a couple times when she was 20, over two years ago. I drove moderately intoxicated once in 2006, the only time I ever drank and drove.

Now to the good stuff. I am on track to graduate with honors with a bachelors in finance in May. I have just finished 6 years in the National Guard with a deployment to Iraq from.2007-2008. I also held a leadership position.

I am considering applying with the local PD. I'm looking for am opinion of whether or not the good will outweigh the bad. Thanks for the help folks!

In my short experience it depends a lot on how prevelant sponsoring is. In Florida, it's pretty rare. I've never done, possessed, or sold any illegal drugs, never used a fake ID, never drank and drove, and only have 1 speeding ticket. I am also graduating in May with a degree in Finance. I've never served in any type of military capacity though, so that's one thing you have going for you. Anyway, I didn't even get much of a sniff from the 4 places I applied to. The farthest I got was the polygraph at one agency, and I passed it, and they still rejected me for domestic violence because I had pushed my wife 2 times early in our marriage (no marks, no injury, no cops involved, no falls, etc), and "undetected crimes" which I disclosed, such as failing to register my car within a certain amount of time, and trespassing in a park after dark. I did not anticipate these issues being that much of a problem as long as I was honest about them, which I was, but since the sponsoring is so competative, they probably had 50 other guys who have had better histories than I have.

But, you will never know unless you apply, and maybe your local PD has a different policy on sponsoring than here in FL. If you don't get hired right away, you can always self sponsor if you really want to pursue the career. Good luck. Don't get another speeding ticket, lol.