Expert: Chris Wagoner - 12/19/2007

Question
Hi, my name is Chris and I’ve wanted to be a police officer my whole life; however when I was a teen I made some childish mistakes. I was arrested for criminal property damage two times and mob action once. All three charges were dropped in court. I also acquired many traffic tickets and was convicted on driving on a revoked license two times. I also have had some city citations for underage drinking and other minor offenses. There are many police reports on my record as well. All these offenses happened when I was the age of 18 or younger (with the exception of mob action when I was 19, a few traffic tickets when I was 20 and 21, and a drinking ticket). They were all childish acts and I have since matured and learned from my mistakes.

I am now 22 years old and have had no trouble with the law since. I am in the Air Force and will be getting out when I'm 24. I also am going to school and will have my Bachelors Degree in Criminal Justice before I separate from the military. I also do community service work and a portion of all my paychecks go to charities to aid children in need. When I move to California for the Air Force I plan on volunteering with a police dept. and working every weekend if possible.

All my actions in the past were all due to immaturity and influence. I never intended to harm anyone ever and have no criminal convictions. I plan on getting the criminal damages and mob action expunged. Is there anything else that I could do that would help? Will I still have a chance in a police career or do you think I should look into something else? Thanks for your time I appreciate it.


Answer
Hi Chris,

First let me thank you for your service. Being former Army myself, I appreciate your sacrifice.

That said, you seem to be doing everything you should to increase your chances of being hired by a agency. And by volunteering with one, they will get a chance to see you and evaluate you over a period of time, which is good.

Your driving record concerns me, and you need to work on that. See the department you will be working for will be giving you a patrol unit that allows you, when needed, to drive contrary to the traffic laws. Most agencies look very hard at bad driving records and are hesitant to hire someone that has a really bad driving record. Yours is borderline at best.

I would have to be honest and say you may have a very difficult time getting hired by a police department based on your driving record and other factors you told me about, BUT that does not mean its impossible. You are doing all the right things and if you can keep your driving record and other things clean until you get out of the Air Force, and get those other items expunged, you stand a fair chance of getting hired.

Most departments understand that we make mistakes when we are younger, what they worry about are patterns that show a behavior pattern. Your tickets and drinking offenses will concern them and you need to convince them you have changed that pattern and done something to overcome it. Maybe look into volunteering with MADD or SADD, maybe taking a professional driving course of some sort would help also.

If you do what you say you are doing, and maybe look at those other items I mentioned, you should still be able to get into law enforcement, but you will have to work at it. They will look at the effort and time you spend trying to get things right.

Good luck! And Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!