Expert: Chris Wagoner - 12/23/2011

Question
Goodafternoon Sir,

okay so i'm going to try to make this as detailed as possible along with key points so this doesnt get boring to you. I believe i am fully capable of assuming all duties and responsibilities as a police officer in California but i have some things in my past that are really bothering me. So here it goes:

first and foremost I am currently enlisted in the United States Navy. I intend on getting honorably discharged in approximately eleven months. I have never been in trouble while serving my country. i have good conduct all across the board, never went to mast, DRB, XOI or anything. i've been a great worker and asset to my division. I know this honorable discharge is going to look great on my resume'. Prior to joining the service i was a Police Explorer for my local police department. i was eighteen when i joined the explorere program but, i wish i knew about it sooner. anyways, so i did my term there in whcih i was skeptical at first before joining. i knew i wanted to do something with my life that helped people and brought service, thats another reason why i joined the service. I absolutely fell in love with law enforcement as soon as i walked in the door as a recruit. i excelled with the explorer program. i graduated from the police explorer academy with great grades. i ultimately promoted to Captain of my post, and led my team to several first place trophys and overall performances in explorer competitions. the scenarios included hostage negotiations, active shooter, high risk felony stops, suspicious person, marijuana guarden raid and i can go on and on. so i finish my term with the exlorer post honorably. along with that, i have plenty of letters of recomendations from the mayor, city councel and the boy scouts of America for a job well done. after the explorers i joined the service.

i was twenty years old when i got out of the ecplorer program and i was alos twenty years old when i enlisted. during my time since i departed i have continued to keep in touch with my former advisors. throughout my explorer days and even until now i have gone on constant ride alongs with my local department and built great relationships as far as netwroking. i still go on ride alongs until this day so i have been active in my pursuit to be a police officer. i've also gone with other departments to ride on my off time and helped out swat teams with scenarious in which they need volunteers for victims sake. my cousin is alos a police officer for a police department in whcih im interested in.

so here goes the fun part about getting hired and my past. everything  sounds great up above right? well i wish thats all they can look at. okay, so i've NEVER been arrested for anything. i'm 23 now and i first got my license when i was 16 years old. in seven years i only have two tickets. one for a moving violation and one for speeding. the moving violation i did traffic school for and the speeding i took care of it but couldnt do traffic school because i deployed a week later. now comes the hard part for me to admitt because i am ashamed of a few things regarding my past but i wont lie about anything. when i was 17 i experienced with marijuana 5 times, no more than that. but, thats not what i'm afraid of. during a very rough point in my life i got into an argument with my dad, he pretty much told me to leave the house. so i went to my friends house to vent and just get away. long story short i was peered pressured into doing a small thumbnail line of "coke." it was horrible. i didnt feel high at all, all i can think about is how i violated the way i was raised and it wasnt me. so i realised that and i cried and ran all the way to my girlfriends hous at the time. i vented to her and told her i was sorry for letting her down and hoe disgusted i felt. so there it is. i did marijuana and one stupid thing of coke. i NEVER sold drugs at all. drugs have never been in my posession for sale and i have never conducted a transaction. unfortunately i grew up in a rough neighborhood with horrible friends. a couple of them were drug dealers but i never got involved with dealing drugs myself. i was the only one who had a license and a car but i never transported drugs. there is this one time i recall though that i was driving just like i would always drive my friends around. either to go to the mall, the movies and other places where teenagers go. so there was this one time where i was driving and my friend who was a small time drug dealer, didnt make large amounts of money off it he just sold to fellow friends. so anyways me, being the ginny pig and always driving my friends around not only him. he told me to go to the park really quick in which i did. and i saw him do a transaction. i felt it was wrong just being there i didnt like it at all and he sold to my cousin. that was the last time and only time that i drove him to a transaction. i didnt want that life, i didnt want to be around that. i was sixteen when that happened. but i'm worried that would seal the deal for me in backgrounds. like i said, i NEVER sold any type of drug, i have NEVER bought drugs or anything. but i drove that one time and that freaks me out!!! this was seven years ago. i dont talk to these people no more or hang out with them. i completely turned around and two years later at 18 and became a police explorer and excelled to the top!

im a great leader. in highschool i played football and ran track. won state my junior year, got third place in 400 relay race in the valley and ive always tried to be a good romodel for my siblings. i had horrible friends as a teenager and i really regret my teenage years. there is one more thing that botheres me too. as for the Navy i feel like it has tremendously helped me out transforming me into the man i truly wanted to be. an honorable person, a veteran. one who can take and execute orders from the higher chain of command. i've displayed commitment and courage in working around stressful situations. i ahve two deployments under my belt and conducted humanitarian efforts in haiti when the earthquake struck in early 2010. but one of my deployments we were out to sea and long story short again me and all my brother in arms went out in foreign countrys and got involved with women needles to say. being out to sea for 90 days and you hit a port, its nice to have some female company. to me it looked normal because you saw chiefs, master chiefs all the way up and down the chain of command hanging outwith these women in foreign countries and as military personnel that was the thing i guess and seemed that was the military and Navy way. looking back i shouldnt have engaged these women, in a 6 motnh perioud out to sea i engaged in 4 encounters. thats very embarrassing for me to reveal but its the truth. and its not my character to do so. im ashamed of that too and it will never happen again and thats something that i personaly promised myself.

so being a former captain police explorer, and then having military experience along with an honorable dishcarge. including my off time efforts in taking ride alongs and doing training with different agencys. how would my past affect the hiring process? am i automatically disqualified? do i look like a worthy candidate? i seriously want this with all my heart and soul. my biggest reason in joining the military was to get out of Los Angeles, leave the people behind and cut off my past and create a new and noble life. during the explorer years i informed my advisors about the drug expirements a year prior and it was a huge thing. they honestly went to battle for me! they asked the chief about the situation and pretty much stood up for me. and the chief said i would still be able to be a police officer in the future, that i needed time of course and its now been 7 years since i touched any drug. i didnt say anything about a couple people i knew being drug dealers and me being the ginny pig with the only car. like i said that was a one time incident and i NEVER personaly had drugs in my posession, or sold, or did any transaction involving drugs. i dont even know how to measure them or anything. im really worried but like i said, this is my dream. i will do whatever it takes but i want an experts opinion. im also half way done in getting my associates degree. please let me know if this is grounds for DQ or if i still have a fighting chance? if all goes south, i will put myself through the academy with my own money just so i can show them that i truly want this and im determined to be a police officer. i'vee made mistakes, even kind of recent ones on deployment. but i've learned from it. i've learned from my past and i can honestly say that im a better man because of the exlorer post and the military with an honorable disharge. thank you so much and i hope to get your feedback soon. thank you so much sir for taking your time to help me out. thank you

Answer
Hi Daniel,

You write very well, but I have to say, worry to much. There is a reason for that, its called you have a conscious. Thats good. One time use of Coke, and 5 times marijuana is minor actually, especially since you were a juvenile when you did it.

The one thing that you will have to explain but its still not a deal breaker, is that you were part of a drug deal. Either intentional or not you took part. What I would make sure to do is make sure you let them know it was not intentional. Intent is a big part of any crime as you should know from your explorer days. SO I think you should be OK.

You just need to understand that commission of a crime requires intent, and without intent, you cannot have a crime.

Also, as for the drug use don't make a mountain out of a mole hill as they say.

Your going to be fine. Your stuff was years ago, and your new found "honor" you have found been instilled with because of your service to our country has made you feel much worse about these things that were in your past, long before you became one of the 1.3% of the population that protects the other 98.7%. Thats what percentage of the population that serves in the military at any given time.

Be proud, stop worrying, and start thinking about your future.

Merry Christmas and thank you for your service.