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Careers: Police/appointment with an expunged felony record

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Expert: Eric Potts - 8/10/2008


Question
Hello Eric,
Thank you for taking the time to answer my question.  I am looking to become a police officer in NJ and my question is whether or not i will be disqualified with a felony conviction.  In 1998 I was arrested with another person for burglary.  This happened about a month after i turned 18 and was disposed of just before i turned 19. i received 4 years probation and since then i have not had any other problems with the law and i will be eligible to have the record expunged in about 9 months. I know even if it is expunged that it will still come up during a background investigation.  is there a law that states regardless of the expungement b/c it was a felony i will be disqualified?
Thank you for your time and help,
Mike

Answer
Hi Mike,

I don't think there is any way of sugar coating this issue, this will be a hindrance to you becoming a Police Officer. Even with the expunged record, you must answer the questions on the application honestly so this will come up in your background. With all things being equal, if you are up against another person for the job and their record is clean, well you can see where that leads.  

Good Luck.  

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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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