Will My Polygraph Answer Have an Effect on My Background Check?

[Chevy454]

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[MikeG]

Hello LEO's,

I am 24 years old with a clean background (clean criminal record, clean driving record, etc.) I recently took a polygraph test with a police department. I admitted to an "undetected crime" on the polygraph test. It was a "peeping tom" incident that happened 10 years ago.

I was looking outside my window and noticed my neighbor standing in her house in one of the rooms. I was looking for maybe 5 minutes. I believe she might have saw me because she closed the curtains to her window. She was just standing there. She wasn't nude or getting undressed.

I recalled that incident when I was filling out the polygraph packet and I wanted to be honest as I could be, so I put that down as an "undetected crime."

I passed the polygraph, but is this incident going to disqualify me or hurt my chances for becoming a police officer in Connecticut?

Thank you!

Not a LEO but I presume there is an "undetected crime" section in your application that no longer matches your polygraph packet?

[Chevy454]

MikeG,

The department I applied to did not have a section on the application to list "undetected crimes." On the initial application, it only said to check "yes" or "no" if I were convicted of any sort of crime.

[Kimble]

Hello LEO's,

I am 24 years old with a clean background (clean criminal record, clean driving record, etc.) I recently took a polygraph test with a police department. I admitted to an "undetected crime" on the polygraph test. It was a "peeping tom" incident that happened 10 years ago.

I was looking outside my window and noticed my neighbor standing in her house in one of the rooms. I was looking for maybe 5 minutes. I believe she might have saw me because she closed the curtains to her window. She was just standing there. She wasn't nude or getting undressed.

I recalled that incident when I was filling out the polygraph packet and I wanted to be honest as I could be, so I put that down as an "undetected crime."


I passed the polygraph, but is this incident going to disqualify me or hurt my chances for becoming a police officer in Connecticut?

Thank you!

Sounds to me like you made an admission to something as an "undetected crime" that wasn't even a crime. Last time I checked, looking outside your own window isn't a crime, and quite a bit different from crawling into said neighbor's bushes to look inside her window.

You're doing what a lot of nervous applicants do, you're overreacting to past issues in an effort to be forthcoming. While you're forthcomingness is commendable, use common sense. If it's a crime (and most crimes are pretty obvious), be honest about it and let the chips fall where they may. If it's not, it's not.

[MikeG]

Hello LEO's,



I was looking outside my window and noticed my neighbor standing in her house in one of the rooms. I was looking for maybe 5 minutes. I believe she might have saw me because she closed the curtains to her window. She was just standing there. She wasn't nude or getting undressed.

What was the point of that? If I'm going to stare at the hot neighbor for 5 minutes she better be naked or getting there. Otherwise I want those 5 minutes back. You should be more worried about the psych test.

Can't speak to whether it's legal or an issue but Kimble did. I know people who get tripped up/DQd for listing different things on different apps/forms (in fact a good friend has a job now because a slot opened up after a candidate was DQd following minor discrepancy at poly - the DQd candidate quickly got another job at other dept because it was minor documentation thing). If you decide it's not a crime, and you apply somewhere else in the future, discuss with BI before omitting. They kind of have a way of finding stuff and checking old answers to new ones.

[mobrien316]

I passed the polygraph, but is this incident going to disqualify me or hurt my chances for becoming a police officer in Connecticut?

No.

[mcsap]

It is not illegal to look into another persons home from a LEGAL vantage point. ( unless this is an ongoing harassment / stalking case.)

[Chevy454]

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[G35 Mass]

Relax. What's done is done.

Don't start worying about other departments until you've been DQed from the current one.

What you have described would be, if I were a BI, a "non issue".

[mobrien316]

I do background checks for a municipal agency in Connecticut. If I saw "Peeping Tom" checked off I would certainly ask you about it, not simply throw your application in the trash.

I would also likely assume that it was not really a "peeping tom" type of incident, but that you mischaracterized it as such.

Don't worry about it.

If you had an arrest for voyeurism on your record, you'd probably get kicked. This is nothing like that.

[greg72982]

To me a peeping tom is someone who does this as a habit, not one time on a woman who was clothed. I must say though 5 minutes is a long time if she is clothed :D

[Chevy454]

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[marinepilot]

A DQ is a DQ from that department only. Are there things that will get you DQ'd and basically black-balled from almost EVERY agency? I'm sure there are, but this isn't one of them. If you're DQ'd from this agency, apply to other agencies until you find one that hires you. Get some experience, and then go back to the dream agency and apply again. Once more time has passed and you have some experience under your belt, they might just look different at you than they did before. Happened to me: I was with my current agency before any other for about 5 weeks. Ended up getting let go due to a hiccup in my background that the Chief Deputy didn't care for when it hit his desk. Got hired on with another, smaller agency at the local junior college and they didn't care about the hiccup. After 2 1/2 years there, got back on with the first agency just about 2 years ago now.

The main thing is, don't ever give up. Especially if that's the only thing you think is wrong with your background. I agree with many of the others, you're making a mountain out of a molehill...

[MPI1]

Happened to me: I was with my current agency before any other for about 5 weeks. Ended up getting let go due to a hiccup in my background that the Chief Deputy didn't care for when it hit his desk. Got hired on with another, smaller agency at the local junior college and they didn't care about the hiccup. After 2 1/2 years there, got back on with the first agency just about 2 years ago now.

It was the pink thong underwear wasn't it? We told you not to wear those over your hips in the interviews!

[marinepilot]

It was the pink thong underwear wasn't it? We told you not to wear those over your hips in the interviews!

Now you've gone and given ALL my secrets away!!

Rep sent!