Expert: Jack Toomey - 7/25/2009

Question
Mr. Toomey,

I have a question for you that has been bugging me for quite some time. I am applying to police departments right now. I am about to graduate from college with a high GPA (I am graduating cum laude). I have never been in trouble with the law. I have never done any illegal drugs and have told my friends that do them that I can no longer be around them. However, when I was about 17 years old, I was going through a very difficult time. Being young and, frankly, stupid, I cut myself one time on my arm. It was nothing serious; I did not have to go to a hospital for stitches or anything like that. I simply did not know how to deal with high stress situations. That was 5 years ago, and that weakness has disappeared. Being a college student is stressful enough, but life becomes even more stressful when you are trying to run a small business and keep it afloat. These times have definitely been the most demanding and stressful times of my life, but I take it all in stride, eager to meet my next challenge.

My questions to you are: does that one situation greatly jeopardize my possible career as a police officer? Should I even tell them about that situation? And what happens if they find out about it from someone else?

I feel like I need to say that being a police officer is what I want to. I almost feel like I have to do it, and I cannot imagine myself doing anything else. I honestly feel that it is my calling. It is because I want this job so much that I am so worried about not being able to get hired. I hope one isolated mistake I made doesn't ruin my career.

Thank you in advance for any advice that you can offer me.  

Answer
Jason,

The key questions are whether you should tell "them" or if "they" find out from someone else.  

At the initial stage you will be required to fill out an lengthy application and there may or may not be a question that requires a truthful answer about something in this category.  If there is such a question and you don't answer truthfully it will surely trip you up on the polygraph.  If there is not such a question then you should be ok unless there is a similar question in this category on the polygraph.

If you progress through the applicant stage (and very few people do) you will come to the background investigation.  If you have told several people about this it very well may come up when the investigators interview friends and acquaintances.   There is nothing that you can do about that now.

There is really no "yes" or "no" answer to your question about getting hired.  As you might know a very small percentage of applicants to reputable police departments are actually hired.  So the best answer that I can give you is that your episode certainly won't help you but it might not hurt you.