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Expert: Eric Potts - 8/5/2008


Question
Hi, i'm very interesting in becoming a police officer and actually took the cjbat for Miami-Dade police Department and passed but had to move for family reasons and did not continue with the process, however i was always in doubt of being accepted because unfortunately in 2005 i got a dui. This was treated as a traffic violation and not as criminal charge, in fact i currently work for citigroup and i don't have any criminal record at all. I'm very passionate about law enforcement but due to the above incident my credit was ruined and had a tough time. Will this be a problem taking in consideration that i have no criminal record, no other problems with drugs, violence and that one time incident with alcohol?? I am married and have a 2 year old son and i am currently 28 years old.

Thank you

Answer
Hi Carlos,

It is always good to hear from someone who has learned from their mistakes.

I always try to be positive in my answers but at the same time I "keep it real".

Will this hurt your chances? Yes and no. If you are up against someone who has the same qualifications as you but does not have these negative items in their background, well obviously the decision will lean towards them. However, these are not insurmountable obstacles and I encourage you to keep applying, keep trying until you realize your goal of becoming a Law Enforcement Officer.

Good Luck to You.

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Eric Potts

Expertise

I am a Veteran of The United States Army where I served as a Military Police Officer for 6 years and have been a Municipal Police Officer for 20 years. I am a certified Arson Investigator, as well as a certified Community Police Officer. I am a DARE teacher in the local schools. I am a Defensive Driving Instructor and worked for years as a Detective specializing in White Collar Crime. I'm qualified to answer general law enforcement questions, general procedure questions (all departments have different rules and regulations. I can answer questions about how to become a law enforcement officer, and questions that might help someone understand why an officer acted a certain way. I am also a Police Suicide Awareness trainer and a member of the NJ Critical Incident Response Team. PLEASE DO NOT ASK ME ANY QUESTIONS PERTAINING TO SWAT-I AM NOT QUALIFIED TO ANSWER THEM AND WILL REJECT THOSE QUESTIONS.

Experience

I have 27 years total Law Enforcement experience in a wide range of areas. I have worked as a Detective and a Patrolman and have made well over 2,000 arrests in my career.

Education/Credentials
Graduated from the United States Army Military Police School Basic Law Enforcement Training Arson Investigators School DARE Officer Training Interview and Interrogation School Police Suicide and Awareness Trainer

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