Summary Offense in PA (Disorderly Conduct) - How bad will this effect me?

[BadDecision]

Hi. I have a multipart question I'm hoping you can help me answer.

I was recently given a citation for disorderly conduct in PA. I understand this to be a summary offense.

Q1) Will this show up on my background check? I hope to have a future in the police and actually proceed to law school and perhaps become a DA. Thoughts? Am I screwed?

Q2) The nature of my offense is a bit embarrassing, suffice to say a bad decision on my part.... will background checks reflect the details of the offense? If not, is it difficult or common for employers to dig in and pursue the details?

Q3) I'm worried about the offense showing up in the Police Blotter and newspapers. How does that work?

Thanks in advance for your help. I'm sure this all sounds bad... it is really embarrassing. I'm a good guy, hard working, with an otherwise clean record, I just made a really bad decision one day, that could destroy my life if things got out. So I'm looking for some honest information from experienced law enforcement sources. Thank you.

[NightR0ver]

Q1) Will this show up on my background check? I hope to have a future in the police and actually proceed to law school and perhaps become a DA. Thoughts? Am I screwed?
In short yes and you will be expected to disclose any past contact you have had with the police. Failure to disclose this incident will result in your termination either from the hiring process or your job should you actually make it that far.


Q2) The nature of my offense is a bit embarrassing, suffice to say a bad decision on my part.... will background checks reflect the details of the offense? If not, is it difficult or common for employers to dig in and pursue the details?
Since you provided no details as to what you were charged with, I can't help you out on this one. The officers report is a public record that can be pulled up in the future unless your court record and offense are sealed.

Q3) I'm worried about the offense showing up in the Police Blotter and newspapers. How does that work? Depends on how your local government works, department policies in regards to releasing information to the media etc. If it is something fairly high profile or of public interested you can almost bet to see it in one or more various media outlets.

No way of telling you how it will effect your future in law enforcement or law in general for that matter since you did not disclose any information really whatsoever.

[mcsap]

Well..what did you do ?