Questions about juvenile background

[waylonlstephens]

The state in question is Kansas.

At the age of 14 I was charged with a non residential burglary, vehicle burglary, and at the age of 17 I was charged with a non residential burglary. All instances I completed my sentences in full paid all of my restitution and was released. I have NEVER been charged as an adult. First of all I would like to say, I am responsible for my mistakes and I'll be the first to admit to everyone of them. At this time now it has been 7 years since my last infraction and 10 years since the other 2. After I turned 18 I have been a model citizen, I have had 1 traffic ticket since I was 16. I was a misguided teenager, and my mistakes were STUPID. The victim from my last burglary at 17 has offered to write me a letter of recommendation, as I followed up with him after my sentence because I felt bad. I did extra work for him and his family and we have since became friends. My first charge of vehicle burglary I was placed on diversion for, the second I was placed on probation and the third community corrections. I have never had an issue with drugs, I tried marijuana one time in high school and one other time at the age of 20 both times it made me feel ill, and was in no way shape or form a pleasurable experience. To be quite honest I was a nerd in high school, I loved playing video games and for some reason every once in a while I did something extremely stupid. I found I am soon to be a father and I want to do something positive with my life, I want to be able to provide for my family and raise my child so they do not make the same mistakes I did. I want to be a police officer. I am in the enrollment process for starting my associates in criminal justice. I'm sure you've had plenty of these threads, and I have searched through and read plenty, I have searched all over the internet for answers and thought I would register here for advice. I thought I would put my personal story on here for you guys to read and comment if you will. I will add that the victim, a police sergeant from my town, my probation officer from when I was 14 and my community corrections officer from when I was 17 have all offered to write letters of recommendation about my character. I honestly believe, I was just a stupid teenager I made my mistakes and I paid for them. Although I understand completely I will carry these mistakes my entire life, I'm hoping that they can be bumps in the road. Please any insight will be great. I will be completely honest about each and everyone of my cases, I will answer any questions and own up to my mistakes. I'm just asking what you guys think, what do you think my chances are? If I may just need to choose a new career path, I am crossing my fingers that I will not have to this is something I am very interested in. I'm hoping that my juvenile mistakes are not an automatic dis qualifier.

[L-1]

Burglary is usually a felony in most states. Persons convicted of a felony are traditionally prohibited from employment as a peace officer.

However, proceedings under juvenile court are generally not considered to be a criminal conviction unless the individual was certified, tried, and convicted as an adult. Therefore, juvenile convictions are not included as a legal bar to appointment as a peace officer. However, the conduct surrounding the offense should certainly be considered as part of the overall background.

In short, it will not be an automatic disqualifier. However, it will a difficult sell to the department and will depend greatly on the total circumstances of the two incidents and how clean you have kept your life since then. Bear in mind that you will be competing against numerous candidates who have spotless records.

[waylonlstephens]

Thank you for the response, I understand that I will be competing against other candidates however I am hopeful that some of the places I apply there will not be as many people applying. I live in Kansas and a lot of departments especially in western Kansas have had a hard time keeping officers, at least this is what I've been told by a local dispatcher. Other than that I'm hoping I can show my clean record and all the letters from the people stated above that they will give me a chance to at least see that I have changed.